Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Bleon?”

I found out in my memory that Astell called him ‘Duke’ in public but only his name in private. So I called his name.

“…I’m glad you woke up. I… I…”

Bleon put my hand to my cheek. I could feel how much he was trembling.

“How long has it been?”

“…It’s been a week.”

A week?

I didn’t know it had been so long, so I looked at him with a surprised expression.

“For a week… I really… Haa…”

He struggled with his words. I reached out with my free hand—the other one was enveloped in his—and stroked his head gently.

“It’s alright. I woke up.”

“…Yes. It’s such a relief. Oh, I’ll call the doctor right away.”

“I’m fine, but thank you. I’m not hurt anymore.”

“But…”

As Bleon spoke, he was paying close attention to whether he had offended me.

“It’s alright.”

Having said that, I pondered for a while.

‘He’s still trembling. Does he want to hold me?’

For some reason, his eyes told me that he wanted something, so I thought about it a bit, then I opened my arms to him, my expression betraying that I didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to be nice to him anyway.

“Come here.”

Then, as if Bleon had been waiting, he fell into my embrace. I gently stroked his back, which was much bigger than mine.

“Good boy.”

He gave me a big hug and rubbed his face against the nape of my neck.

‘He’s like a puppy.’

I stroked his silky hair as well, waiting for his trembling to calm down.

“Are you feeling better?”

“…Not yet.”

He stopped quivering already and he had visibly calmed down, but he was still in my arms.

“To the bed… Can I go up?”

“Huh?”

“Can’t… I? I want to give my wife a hug…”

His voice had become subdued, perhaps because my answer sounded like I was denying him.

“Oh…? Alright, come up.”

As soon as I gave my permission, Bleon came up to the bed and laid down next to me. And contrary to the situation earlier, this time, he was the one who held me in his arms.

“Haa… I think I can breathe now…”

He took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief.

“You’re all better now, right?”

“Yes, I’m fine now.”

“Don’t get sick anymore, please…”

As I was in his arms, question marks kept floating around in my head.

‘Why are you so worried about the person who abused you?’

I didn’t quite understand. Was it the conditioning he received? Was it because he was consistently treated badly that it stopped him from rebelling? He was too obedient, hanging onto my words, submitting to me unconditionally. Anyway, I couldn’t see him holding any antipathy towards Astell, so this made me think that things could be resolved easily in the future.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Huh?”

“No?”

Ah.

Astell and Bleon had quite a difference in age. Bleon had just grown up and was 20 years old, and Astell was 13 years older than Bleon. Although Bleon looked older than his age, he also felt more like a younger brother than a man to me, probably because his age was similar to my original age, or because I knew how young he really was. So, the hug was also meant to support someone like a sibling.

But kissing…!

Of course, when I first saw him, I thought it was a dream and I didn’t understand the situation at all, so I hugged him on a whim. But now that I regained my senses, I realized that I absolutely shouldn’t have done that.

“I won’t kiss you from now on.”

So I said it loud and clear that I wouldn’t kiss him anymore in the future.

“…What?”

At my words, Bleon’s gaze flitted to me, his eyes full of shock.

“Did I do something wrong?”

His voice was full of sorrow, almost like he’s already crying.

“No. You did nothing wrong.”

“…Then why? I’ll do better.”

“No, no…!”

It was my first time meeting such a person, so I didn’t know how to deal with him. I began to appease him again, even as I was still puzzled.

“While I was sick, I realized something, and I think I’ve been too much for you. So I decided to change. I will never give you that potion anymore. I’ll tell the butler to get the antidote right away, so you should take it. Understand?”

As if he still couldn’t understand what I was saying, Bleon just looked at me with confusion.

“And now you can do whatever you want. I’m not going to force you to do anything anymore. I swear.”

He looked at me in disbelief and opened his mouth.

“I must have done something wrong. But I don’t know, so please tell me…”

“Bleon…!”

Wow, this was really hard. It gave me goosebumps for a moment as I realized that he really was thoroughly controlled by Astell to this extent.

“Don’t say that anymore. You did nothing wrong.”

“…Are you trying to leave me?”

“No, I…”

I didn’t mean I’d throw him away, but somehow it seemed like I was…

I was having a hard time answering.

“I’m not throwing you away……!”

Anyway, I wasn’t going to do that, so I explained right away, with conviction.

“So, let’s live a normal life now.”

I really wished to live an ordinary life and die an ordinary death.

But Bleon was still looking at me like he couldn’t understand the language I was using. Why did I think it was going to be easy? This might be quite difficult. I kept telling Bleon what I planned to do, but he couldn’t seem to hear any of it.

And he embraced me tightly, saying that he felt like I would abandon him or just disappear. Thanks to this, I had the sudden privilege to be locked up in the arms of a handsome young man who I never imagined I’d be fated to be with. He smelled very good. Without realizing it, I leaned in closer to his body and sniffed.

“I felt like my wife will wake up today, and I wanted to look pretty, so I took a bath with my wife’s favorite petals. Did I do well?”

“Huh? Yes. Good job.”

“But my wife smells so much better.”

Then he also buried his face in my nape and breathed deeply. During the week I was lying down, the employees might have occasionally wiped my body with towels, but they wouldn’t have been able to clean me properly, and he was sticking his nose in my body saying he liked it.

“…want……”

What do you want to do—

Then, suddenly, I felt something hard and big poking at my abdomen, rapidly making its presence known. I realized what it was and pulled back to get as far away from him as possible. But the moment I tried to turn away, a huge, thick length had been deeply engraved in my mind. I couldn’t get it out of my head that that was still touching my body.

“Haa… Wife…”

While my body was getting hotter and hotter, I tried not to show any signs of it, but I could feel Bleon’s anxiety as he sighed.

‘I’m in a bind.’

Ah, now I know.

After thinking about how to get out of this very difficult situation, I finally figured out why he was doing this. The reason why Bleon was so anxious about the kiss earlier was because of his impatience. During the week I slept, he probably didn’t take the potion, but since he drank it almost every day before that, he might be having withdrawal symptoms.

“You can’t. You need to take the antidote right now.”

“What?”

Bleon, yet again, looked at me with a puzzled expression, seeming like he couldn’t comprehend why I would say that all of a sudden.

“Take the antidote so you’ll be fine.”

With that said, I tried to wriggle out of his arms to get out of bed. But Bleon was holding me so tightly that I couldn’t move at all.

“Would you mind letting me go?”

As soon as I spoke expressionlessly to him, Bleon flinched and moved away from me as he sat up.

‘You listen very well.’

But despite that, it looked like he was on the verge of crying because it was against his will. I waved the bell hanging from the bed the moment I got away from him. Then shortly thereafter, a knock on the door was heard.

“It’s Jace, Madam.”

“Come in.”

Perhaps it was because I was influenced by the memories of this body’s original owner, but it wasn’t difficult to speak to the butler.

“Madam, you’re awake.”

As soon as the butler Jace entered the bedroom, he saw me awake and said with a bright smile.

“Bring me the antidote to the potion that Bleon has been drinking.”

I told him to bring the antidote right away.

“Antidote?”

The butler looked confused. Astell had never given Bleon any antidote since she used the potion.

“Yes. Right now.”