The Devilish Duke Can’t Sleep

Proofreader: somnium

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For being the Queen

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Your Excellency.”

“Oh, long time no see, Gerard.”

As Gerard, a close friend of his son and a young blood representing the Black Faction, approached and greeted him, Damian greeted him with an elegant move away from those around him.

“I should have come and greeted you as soon as I heard that you had come, but I’m sorry.
Your son did not allow me to visit.”

“Hahaha! He didn’t want to get caught pampered by his father, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.”

“What? Pampered? Are you kidding me?”

“Well? Why do you think it’s a joke? How cute is our Kahel.”

“Even a hedgehog said that their child is pretty, but Your Excellency can’t do that.”

“Really?”

“Actually, I don’t really want to know.
It’s creepy.”

Gerard trembled as if he had heard something he couldn’t unhear, and Damian chuckled lightly at his humorous appearance.
He was a young man whom he always felt good to have as a friend of his son.

If the former Count Langtail had not put Gerard under Damian’s guardianship after his accidental death, Kahel would not have had such a delightful friend.
Even at the age of only 20, Gerard, who bravely came to him and asked him for help to succeed the title, was still vivid in his memory.

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Not forgetting that Damian had helped at that time, Gerard still serves Damian as his godfather.

“By the way, did you come alone?”

 

“No way.
Sir Kahel is in an audience with Her Majesty and the Marquis of Rognac.”

“Already?”

“It seems that she really liked the dress she got from the Marquis of Rognac this time.”

Gerard laughed at that.
This year’s New Year’s celebration was especially important.
This is because it will be the first place to show the business that the Marquis of Rognac has been preparing in front of the nobility.
Their muse was daring to be the Queen, and everyone’s attention was drawn.
Luahalla kept the design of the Queen’s dress a secret.
Even the young ladies who worshiped Liddell wondered about the Queen’s dress.

Today, Liddell was wearing a royal blue dress made in a famous dressing room in Ardennes.
The dress was also beautiful.
It suits her blonde hair and her blue eyes very well.
But Gerard guessed that today would be the day the Queen is victorious.

“I’m not familiar with fashion, so I don’t know for sure, but it seems that the clothes makers hired by the Marquis of Rognac are not ordinary skilled.
Before they came to the Luave mansion, there were so many accidents around them, you might have thought that they were the people who brought bad luck.
Does it mean that they are so talented that someone earnestly wishes for them to get involved in such an ‘accident’?”

Damian only smiled at Gerard’s sarcasm.
He also found this match interesting.

The two exchanged secret smiles, then slowly reined in their expressions.
Because it was Gerard’s turn to ask a difficult question.

“How is Madam’s health?”

“Well…… Not very good.”

Gerard’s face, who had hoped for an answer like, ‘It’s still the same,’ was a little disappointed.
In the first year of leaving Ardennes and going to Terraluave, there were reports that she seemed to be getting better, but the news did not last more than a year and a half.
The former Duchess of Luave, whose body was so damaged that she was so weak, it wouldn’t be strange if she dies, and recently they said that she herself was preparing for her own death.

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“Sir Kahel…… Will he be okay?”

“He won’t be okay, but he will look okay.
That place is as cruel as that.”

Gerard understood the meaning of Damian’s words.
A place where he can’t express his sorrow even with a fingernail even though his beloved mother is dying, a place where he has to look extremely calm on the outside, even if he’s not okay.

It was not enough for his poor friend to fight the enemy in such a cruel place, he had to also fight the curse placed on him.

 

“I am always grateful to you, Gerard.”

“What do you mean?”

Although Gerard was the right hand man of the Duke of Luave and was even considered the new power of the Black Faction, he also felt like a child in front of Damian.
And at that moment, he thought that Kahel would live this, too, so he thought for a moment that Damian’s ‘pampering’ might be serious.

While they were having a conversation, the music that signaled the start of the annual celebration began to resound inside the venue.
The nobles lowered their voices and watched, waiting for the Queen’s family to appear.
Soon, with the sound of fanfare, the attendant’s voice was heard saying, ‘Her Majesty the Queen is entering!’

Everyone slightly bent their knees or lowered their torso, only rolling their eyes, glancing towards the entrance where the Queen would appear.
And low exclamations began to flow from the entrance side.

“Wow!”

“Oh my gosh…… !”

Where everyone looked, Fabian Ardenia, the Queen shining like the sun, with a solemn face, gave a slight nod to the greetings of the nobles around her.

There was no other way to describe her dress other than the sun.
The deep neckline was adorned with gold beads and diamonds, and the collar wrapped around the back of her head looked like a series of gold bars of different lengths tightly attached to each other as if to represent the rays of the sun spreading in all directions.

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The sleeves that run wide from her elbows wrapped around her forearms were graceful, and the skirt, gilded in gold and studded with jewels, dazzled in the bright bloodstone lights.
And the outer surface of the fur cloak, which dragged long behind her back, was also padded with specially made golden velvet, and the Queen was enveloped in the golden light of the sun from her head to her toes.

A radiance of extreme splendor, a light only permitted for being the Queen, emanated from her.

Fabian, satisfied with the wide eyes of the nobles, ascended to the throne slowly.
Although there is a saying that clothes are wings, today Fabian Ardenia knew that she was the bloodline of a great God just by looking at her clothes.

“Your Majesty the Queen! May the New Year be peaceful.”

When Fabian ascended to her throne, the nobles at the same time greeted the New Year.
It’s a greeting she hears every year, but this year, she thought that the sound was a little louder.

“Raise your head.
May peace and happiness dwell in your homes and estates again this year, I bless you in the name of the great God.”

“Your Majesty’s grace, I am humbled.”

A standard greeting was exchanged, and then bright music flowed, followed by a dance between the Queen and the Grand Duke.
Fabian, in her early 40s, looked incredibly young and beautiful, like in her early thirties, with the makeup and dazzling dress which the maids must have paid so much attention to.
In fact, it always has been so, but people have only now realized it.

Seeing this, Kahel hinted at Luahalla, who was by his side.

“I have to admit it.
Fashion is not a field to be underestimated.”

“I feel encouraged now that Sir Kahel acknowledges me, but for someone who says they haven’t been interested in the past, your outfit today is also very beautiful, isn’t it?”

“I was relieved to have the expert evaluate it that way.”

But no, Kahel’s outfit suited him very well.
He used to use minimal accessories, but now he is also wearing a pretty glamorous style of brooch.
Thanks to that, the already beautiful man stood out more, so he had to suffer from the gaze of all kinds of desires, but strangely, it was more tolerable than before.

[“Although I picked it, this brooch suits Your Excellency so well!”]

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He remembered when Lena, who was attending him, hesitated and told him that the brooch suited him.
Then, suddenly, a small question arose.
When she picked up the brooch, there were many other ‘red jewel’ items around.
So he asked why she chose this one.

[“It was the closest to Your Excellency’s eye color.
And since most jewelry is not noticeable when His Excellency wears it…….”]

In response to that, he suddenly got a fever on the back of his back.
If it was enough to find the one that most closely resembles his eye color among the subtle red gems, wouldn’t it mean that she looked closely into his eyes?

By the standards of the Ardennes socialite, it was an expression of a crush on the opposite sex very outrightly.
Sadly, however, Lena didn’t seem to have that kind of thoughts even for a fingernail.
Kahel himself couldn’t figure out what was sad about it.

‘She didn’t grow up as a noble, so that must be why, but I think she treats the opposite sex too freely.’

That was definitely something to be concerned about.
Lena, who started to burst out with fresh beauty, even he who was blunt with appearance was so blinded by her appearance that he sometimes lost his gaze.
If she whispers seductive words without hesitation while wearing that smile that is set by her pretty face, who will not covet her?

Again, he remembered Lena wiping Sid’s hair and fixing it with the hairpin he bought her.

‘A hairpin on a guy’s head.
Lena must have done it as a joke, but Sid…… At that time her face was clearly red.
Lena wouldn’t even know that she was seducing Sid unintentionally!’

Every time he thought about it, he got angry.
He knew very well that, rationally, he shouldn’t be so upset.
But since he’s still human, he doesn’t think he can quite ignore the emotional part.

This is the hairpin he bought her.
Of course, he gave it to Lena, so it didn’t matter how she used it, but how could he hold it in when she uses it to flirt with another guy? Of course, that didn’t mean he was angry with Lena.
From then on, he only considered Sid more displeasing.

‘Next time, I’ll have to buy a fancy one.
Something so flashy that she can’t even put it on a guy’s head; even as a joke.’

Kahel, who has become more interested in fashion thanks to Luahalla, secretly scours accessories worn by the ladies around, contemplating which one would suit Lena.

Anyway, the New Year’s Celebration was a success for Kahel, Luahalla, and Fabian.

As they expected, the Queen’s dress became a huge subject.
Even on the day of the ceremony, everyone could not take their eyes off Fabian, and many people approached Luahalla before the banquet was over.
After the ceremony was over, it was clear that the boutique on Rivella Street would be in full swing with visitors.

After confirming that the plan is going smoothly, Kahel decided to go back to the mansion early after talking with Damian.
It’s because he has been tormented by people for a long time, and he longed for a cup of tea with Lena alone.