The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

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Kidnapping

Kahel’s shrill voice made Sid withered and clenched her throat, but she held out by crumpling the hem of her clothes.

“Le, Lena…… There’s a reason she didn’t tell you the truth.”

“Tell me.”

“Lena says that not long ago she met a man that was said to be her biological father.
I don’t know where or how she met him.
She said his name was Albert Ruban and that he was a Viscount.
But because he’s a white faction noble…… That’s why Lena couldn’t tell you.”

Kahel seemed to have been stabbed in the back of the head by the fact that Lena had already known about Viscount Ruban.
Seeing Kahel’s cold expression, Sid pleaded for Lena’s defense.

“She, she asked me to keep it a secret.
Lena planned to tell Your Excellency when everything was clear.
It really is! I can swear with my life!”

Sid’s heartbreaking oath was not heard by the frozen Kahel.

“Arder.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Find Albert Ruban.”

“Understood.”

“And the day that Lena met the Viscount that was her biological father must have been there, at Miss Peregrine’s tea party.
Other than that, she never went out.”

The edge of the armrest of the sofa that Kahel was holding slowly cracked and then broke with a crackling sound.

“Call Leslie Peregrine, too.
Right now.”

* * *

“Ummm…….”

Lena let out a hard moan.
Her head was pounding.

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‘Where is this…… ?’

Her eyes were open, but she couldn’t see well.
She had a terrifying thought that she might have lost her sight, but when she looked closely, it seemed that the place itself was dark.
Because the bloodstone lighting outside the grated door was clearly visible.

She was dazed for a while, but she seemed to be coming back to her senses.
At the same time, she remembered what had happened before she lost her consciousness.

‘I think there was some kind of drug in the tea…… Why…… ?’

No matter how much she thought about it, there seemed to be no reason to abduct her with this much effort.
But soon after, Kahel’s words came to mind: ‘Be careful, flies will stick to you.’ Seriously, she never dreamed that something like this would happen.

‘Well of course, it’s impossible for my father to suddenly appear after 20 years!’

Everything Albert said was plausible.
But at the same time, it was all unbelievable.
She just wanted to pretend she didn’t know and believe in such a story.
Because she yearned for her blood family so much.

No, maybe, really maybe…… She may have been deceived by wishing that ‘Viscount’ Ruban was her father.
She has been denying herself that she never was, but when this situation came up, she had no choice but to face her honest heart.
If she was the daughter of a Viscount, it seemed like she could be more suitable to Kahel than to being a Baronet…….

As soon as she became Kahel’s lover, she felt a sense of inferiority complex when she used to never think she wanted to be a nobleman.

‘Embarrassing…….’

Even if she became the daughter of the Viscount, she could not be with Kahel, but she had made a huge mistake alone.
And thanks to that, she ended up like this.

‘Come to think of it, I came out with Miss Leslie as an excuse, what if I bothered her because of me? What if the butler was bothered for nothing?’

She was worried about many people, but in the meantime, she was the most worried about Kahel.

‘Will he be upset? Will he be angry? Will he be worried a lot? No…… Maybe he won’t find me.’

At first, he may be confused about what happened.
But he will soon find out that she lied, and the strict Kahel may have felt betrayed.

Guilt and sorrow came together.
As she thought of Kahel, a longing, too.
And with the end of the longing came the fear that everything might be over.

‘But what can I do when I get kidnaped? Am I being a big weakness to you?’

Although she and Kahel were lovers, others wouldn’t have noticed already.
In other’s eyes, she was still only a close maid with a peculiar constitution.
If she disappears, Kahel will be shocked, but he won’t let it go for long.
Rather, this would be an excuse to attack Duchy Santella more proudly because they killed the family’s vassal.

‘Or is it just the kidnapping of a young woman regardless of His Excellency?’

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Rather, it was more convincing, but the predicted future was more bleak.
If it was a simple kidnapping for human trafficking, in the end, she would go out and be sold to a strange place.

Lena pondered that thought and leaned her back against the cold wall.
It was then.
There was a presence outside.
Besides, there didn’t seem to be just one person coming this way.
The sound of the footsteps was also urgent and dizzy.

With a click, she heard the key opening the door.
But the voice that followed after that was very unexpected.

“Huh? Are you awake?”

“Miss, Miss Elliot?”

It was Elliot.
It was a familiar face, so she would have been happy for a moment, but she immediately remembered that this could be a worse situation.
Unsurprisingly, another familiar face popped out from behind Elliot.

“Hihi.
That’s great!”

It was Mrs.
Marvin.
Even after seeing her after a long time, that mean smile was still there.

“Miss Elliot…… kidnapped me?”

“‘Miss’ Elliot? Ha! Since when are you a noble? Have you ever seen anything like someone vulgar from birth be able to enter the Duke’s family?”

Elliot gritted her teeth and approached Lena.

“Why…… Why did you kidnap me?”

“You’re the Duke’s close maid, don’t you think it’s ridiculous? Had you died with my parents, I would have remembered that you were at least a loyal maid, but you dared to be gracious to the enemy…… You deserve to die.”

Seeing the malice in Elliot and Mrs.
Marvin’s eyes, Lena was stunned.
But Elliot didn’t seem to be taking the time to harass Lena.
She must have looked desperate and anxious for some reason.

“You deserve to die, but I will give you one last chance to make atonement.
No, this is too much for you either.
Right?”

Elliot smiled coldly and nodded at Mrs.
Marvin.
Then, as if waiting for it, Mrs.
Marvin took the rope from the sack in her hand and ran to Lena.

“What, what is this!”

“Stay still, you b*tch!”

Mrs.
Marvin seemed to be out of her power on her own, so Elliot even ran to Lena and tied her body with a rope.

“You, you decided to marry Viscount Delroins instead of me anyway.
The subject has changed, but it’s the same.
You’re going to be the wife of Viscount Lucenwein.”

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Elliot pulled out a handkerchief and gagged Lena’s mouth, letting out an eerie grin.

“Liddell, who would have known that that crafty b*tch would have sold me as an old man’s wife?”

Her voice seemed to be half sobbing.

* * *

Elliot Fidelia, no, now officially Elliot Lucenwein’s life, never really worked out.

She thought she was in a better position as Liddell took Mrs.
Marvin and put her up as her own dedicated maid.
However, after she gave Liddell Lian’s story, Liddell, instead of getting closer to her, brought up the topic, saying, ‘I think Elliot will have to go down to the Lucenwein estate soon, too.’

“I, I am Lady Liddell’s handmaiden.”

“But Viscount Lucenqein is waiting for you.
If he can’t see your face like this, there’s no point in adopting you.
Go and see the Viscount’s face.”

“Well then, I guess I should go buy some presents.
What would be better?”

“Elliot herself would be a gift to the Viscount.”

“What kind of person is Viscountess Lucenwein? If she’s the Viscountess from the estate, she might be curious about what’s trending in the capital.”

“Ummm…… I’m not sure…… ? I don’t know much about the Viscountess.”

Then, she should have noticed something was wrong.
Come to think of it, only Viscount Lucenwein’s signature was included in the signature line of her adoption agreement, but she had never seen the signature of the wife.
But even then, Elliot missed the chance to run away and was just hesitating.

Maria shook her head when Elliot said that she would be back, so she wouldn’t have to take all her belongings with her.

“Anyway, Miss Liddell had an order to move Miss Elliot’s room.
When you come back, you will have a better room than this one.”

That was her second chance to run away.
Knowing that Liddell’s maids’ rooms were all the same except for Maria’s, why did she think she would get a room as lavish as Maria’s?

If Liddell were to change her room, she should have already changed it since she was the daughter of Viscount Lucenwein.
But even then, Elliot was just so excited that she missed that little danger warning.

In fact, she didn’t even know until this morning that she had missed her second chance to escape, until Mrs.
Marvin told her the truth.
But Mrs.
Marvin, who was smarter than Elliot, spoke a few words with the coachman who had come up to pick up Elliot from Lucenwein, and then returned with a pale face and shook to Elliot.

“Miss! Tro, tro, trouble!”

“Why are you so fussy?”

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“Vis, Viscount Lucenwein is an old bachelor who had never been married yet! He has a Viscount title, but he’s a damn ugly man! He doesn’t have much money to pay for taking Miss as his wife!”

“What, what?”

“Miss wasn’t adopted into the house, you were sent as the wife of Viscount Lucenwein! Lady Santella sold Miss!”

She seemed to be losing her mind.
She couldn’t believe that she was sold to a worse human being than Viscount Delroins, and that it was the angelic Liddell Santella who did such a thing.
But there was no time to be silent.
She had to run away quickly.

But how could she run away? There is no way that the Lucenwein coachman will go back with an empty carriage, and there is no way that the Santella will not be able to find her.

‘I’ll have to ask Miss Liddell.’

She’s an angelic girl, so she thought maybe she could save her again.
Knowing she was the one who drove her to this point, Elliot couldn’t think of any other way.
So she went looking for Liddell with a heavy heart.

“The maid was locked up in the basement of a hut near the Ayur forest.”

“Good job, Lady Rosenheim.
What about Viscount Ruban?”

“He took the money and left Ardennes immediately.
However, a lot of robbers appeared near the border of Ardennes, he may be robbed of his money and killed.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.”

“But would Duke Luave even care about just one maid?”

“Even if it’s not because of Kahel, the maid must disappear.”

It was quite a coincidence that Elliot overheard it.
Elliot went all the way to the third-floor patio to find out if Liddell was somewhere in the garden, not because she knew that Liddell was drinking tea on the second-floor patio.

‘My deceased mother has pity on me!’

Elliot vowed that she would not miss her last chance to run away, and pretending she knew nothing, she got into the Lucenwein carriage.
It goes without saying that she bribed the coachman before she climbed in.

She persuaded the coachman by saying, ‘Don’t you just have to take a young noblewoman anyway?’ And she had found Lena trapped in the basement.

“It’s good for you anyway.
If you stay here you will eventually die.
Wouldn’t it be better for you to live as a Viscountess than to die?”

Lena was grabbed by Elliot and Mrs.
Marvin, dragged out and struggled, but she could not overcome their strength.