IBTHM Chapter 23

"Ah!"

Shocked, I let out a yell and quickly pulled back my body.

Hades frowned and covered his ears.

"Why are you pretending to be surprised again?"

"I'm n-not pretending—I really was surprised! What is this?!"

Hades sat up, closing the front of his nightshirt that had fallen brazenly open, and let out a laugh of disbelief.

He silently stared at me for a long moment as I instinctively raised both arms to cover my chest, then said:

"……At this rate, anyone would think I was the one who pounced."

"Th-then……"

Me?

"You could work as an actress in the Capital."

"……What?"

To me, wondering what he suddenly meant, Hades shrugged and added:

"Your acting pretending not to wake up from sleep was excellent."

"Wh-what are you talking about? I really just woke up, you know?"

"Right. Of course you did……"

Even though he gave an affirmative answer, Hades clearly didn't believe me at all.

Having suddenly become a scheming woman who pretended to still be asleep after waking up while groping Hades's body, I was dumbfounded.

God, if you truly exist, why are you giving me these trials? Do you really have no intention of curing Hades's overinflated self-consciousness?

"Your Grace, I really need to clear up this misunderstanding……"

He crossed his arms smugly and tilted his head up arrogantly, as if to say, go ahead and try spinning your lies.

"I've never been one to have bad sleeping habits, so I'm not sure what happened. I had a dream and was briefly confused……"

"Aha. So you pounced on me because you couldn't tell dream from reality?"

"P-pounced is a bit of a strong word……. I didn't know what I was doing either……"

"So the moment Abel left, you embraced me as if you'd been waiting?"

"That's right! Young Master! Where on earth did he go?!"

At that perfectly timed moment, the door opened.

Abel, who must have left without me noticing, came waddling in carrying a water pitcher as big as himself.

Seeing us awake, Abel smiled brightly and greeted us.

"You're awake? I thought you might be thirsty, so I brought water."

Abel walked over on his short legs with quick little steps and placed the water pitcher on the bedside table.

No, you should have the maids do that, Abel…….

Hades must have had the same thought because he pointed to the pull-cord by the bed with slightly narrowed brows and said:

"Abel, do you think that's decoration? If you're thirsty, you can call the servants. Why did you go yourself?"

Abel climbed onto the bed and settled between Hades and me as he answered:

"I wanted to bring it myself."

"Ugh."

At Abel's immediate cute answer, I couldn't help but clutch my heart again.

Hades had an expression that said, why is this crazy woman acting like that again? I put force into my eyes and said:

"Your Grace could have stopped him when Young Master tried to leave."

Then this embarrassing situation wouldn't have happened.

"I was asleep too. Someone, not knowing shame, dug into my chest and embraced me, which woke me up."

At Hades's casual answer, I had nothing to say. At least judging by his expression, it didn't seem to be a lie.

Ah, please…

Why did you do that, my half-asleep self?

"In any case…… I apologize, Your Grace. I unintentionally made you uncomfortable."

"I wasn't uncomfortable. Well, it's not like I didn't expect you to act this way……"

"What?"

"Anyway, I need to prepare to receive the vassals, so I should leave first. If my schedule weren't busy, I might not have woken you, but unfortunately, we'll have to hope for next time."

Saying that, Hades left Abel's room without giving me another chance to defend myself.

I stared blankly at the quickly closed door for a long moment. By now, any desire to clear up misunderstandings had completely evaporated.

Hades, who'd left Abel's room, leaned his back against the wall and took a deep breath. He'd exhausted himself trying to act nonchalant.

"Hah, ha……"

Hades really hadn't noticed Abel quietly leaving. It had been quite a long time since he'd slept so peacefully, unaware of the world.

What pulled his hazy consciousness up to the surface was unexpected warmth.

Abel was nowhere to be seen, and Aisha—who knows when she'd come—had flung his clothes wide open and buried her face in his embrace.

He'd figured she wanted to be together, seeing as she'd even used Abel to call him to her room, but of course, he hadn't thought she'd just sleep quietly……

'No, that woman—isn't she even embarrassed?'

……He hadn't expected her to boldly undress him and even embrace him.

Flustered, he tried pushing the small head buried in his arms and even called her name twice, but the more he did, the more brazenly she clung.

When she started nuzzling her face pressed against his bare chest, Hades entered a slightly dangerous state.

The feeling of hot breath touching his skin was enough to make the body of a virile twenty-seven-year-old man quite uncomfortable.

There was no way someone wouldn't wake after going this far—she must definitely be pretending to sleep soundly, deliberately making him uncomfortable.

Finally, when it reached a point where he simply couldn't endure it and had no choice but to try pushing Aisha away by force.

'What was that?'

Hades heard an auditory hallucination of something falling with a thud.

That sound seemed to come from his chest, or perhaps from inside his head. He couldn't tell exactly.

In any case, it happened at the very moment Aisha's head jerked up and their eyes met.

Aisha's face, looking up at him with eyes wide with surprise…

Hades raised his hand and tap-tap patted both his cheeks, shaking his head.

"Hah! Ha!"

He added a few deep breaths, shook out his arms, and even did some jumping jacks in place.

'Damn.'

But his body was still hot, and Aisha's face wouldn't quite shake out of his head.

Thud.

Hades could bet even the handkerchief Aisha had made him that this sound came from somewhere around his heart.

Thud.

This sound that came whenever he'd forget about it, whenever Aisha's face unconsciously appeared in his head even when he tried not to think about it.

Thud.

'Ah, damn.'

"……Your Grace?"

At the voice calling him, Hades was barely pulled from his reverie.

"Uh, um……"

Count Gaspel, Mason, looked puzzled.

On either side of him sat two middle-aged counts.

The three nobles gathered now were Ruvermonte vassals who'd come to discuss the Duke's marriage, having established themselves as closest aides in the process of Hades carefully selecting his inner circle after becoming lord.

Since taking his position, Hades had purged several vassal families and accepted new ones.

In other words, Count Dain Lazly and Count Romardio Garen sitting beside Mason were among the few trustworthy close aides Hades had kept.

Unlike Gaspel, with whom he had no choice but to compromise each time because of Agatha's in-laws, Lazly and Garen were people Hades frequently summoned to the castle to discuss Ruvermonte's political affairs.

"…Where were we?"

The vassals found it strange to see him unable to concentrate, so unlike himself.

Hades cleared his throat awkwardly and added:

"I had something on my mind…"

……Like hell.

Hades gave his head a good shake. He found it rather odd that he was idly thinking about other things during such an important meeting.

"We will merely follow Your Grace's decision. As soon as a reply comes from Esclife, we will wholeheartedly devote our efforts to preparing the marriage of His Grace the Duke, the lord of Ruvermonte."

"……What?"

At Mason's words, Hades doubted his own ears.

Actually, he'd expected voices to be raised at the vassal meeting. There was no way Mason, who found Aisha disagreeable, would readily approve this marriage.

Therefore, Hades had planned to proceed with the marriage even if it meant partially overriding the vassals' opinions.

From the moment he'd decided to establish Abel as his heir anyway, a marriage befitting the 'status' of Ruvermonte that the vassals desired had become impossible.

But…… he'd obtained marriage approval from the vassals without any friction like this?

Hades nodded with a bewildered feeling.

"Right, well……. I understand your position. I'm pleased there's no need for unnecessary arguments. Then, as soon as we receive a reply from Esclife……"

"Thank you, Your Grace. Esclife must have the means to accept the requirements we've proposed, yes? If so, that would be most fortunate."

Mason suddenly interrupted Hades mid-sentence.

Requirements?

He hadn't heard because he'd been thinking about other things. With an awkward expression, Hades asked again:

"The requirements were…… what did you say?"

"Union with the Grand Ducal House. Since many eyes are watching, it's proper that Esclife prove they match Ruvermonte's status."

"And so?"

"As the price for this marriage, the Esclife family must pay a dowry of approximately 8 billion norts."