Duke, Please Stop Because it Hurts

It seemed as though she could finally release the breath that she had been desperately holding. She had pretended to be calm, but alas, the fear that was firmly instilled within herself for more than a decade was never forgotten. Whenever she stood right in front of her family, an innocent sense of guilt immediately immobilized her whole body.

“Ha……”

“Madame, are you feeling alright?”

The butler who was right next to her, carefully parted his mouth. Just until a while ago, the Madame appeared to be infinitely small.

“Probably.”

Molitia tried to smile but she quickly turned her head to the side as her eyes were already welling up with tears. It’s finally over. That ultimately shattered the last string of emotion that she had been holding back since before.

“…no, I think I feel terribly tired. I should get some rest for today.”

Molitia had just stood up, albeit barely when she had to sink back in her seat after her legs had finally felt the exhaustion from before.

“Madame!”

The frightened butler immediately came to her aid.

“Are you alright? Maybe I should just call the doctor…”

“Do keep this as a secret from the Duke. I don’t want him to be aware of this shameful behavior of mine.”

“Madame…”

“Please.”

The butler could only sigh inwardly towards Molitia, who was smiling ever so softly. He immediately felt sorry for her—whom was putting up a strong act.

“I see, but please, don’t ever say the word: ‘please’. I will heed each and every of Madame’s words.”

“…thank you.”

The butler then summoned Lili and Pillen to assist her. As he glanced upon the back view of his Madame’s figure, the butler soon fell into deep thought.

Afterwards, Molitia tried so hard in sorting out her feelings in that bedroom of hers.

However, once the feelings had been distorted within, they would never revert back to normal easily. No matter how hard she slapped herself on the cheek, she just couldn’t get any better.

Molitia fell into a blank stare right in front of the brown bottle of medicine—up until sundown. She, herself was unable to comprehend the origin of that mood that was rumbling away.

—————-

Raven immediately felt something was strange as soon as he returned home from work.

It was the ambiance of his house that had gradually become vibrant ever since Molitia began to reside in the duchy. But today, he felt like it had somehow relapsed to when she wasn’t around.

That feeling of his hadn’t changed even after he entered the mansion.

“You’re back already.”

Raven’s face stiffened when he had encountered Molitia, who looked quite gaunt somehow.

“What’s going on?”

“What?”

“You look worried.”

—considerably. Molitia’s expression turned blank at Raven’s additional remark. She quickly shook her head after she had awkwardly touched her cheek and immediately, she drew a line.

“No—not about work. I’ve been at home all day for today.”

Raven felt a pang of guilt at the choice of her words.

‘Did I make her stay home too much?’

As he valued Molitia’s health over everything, he immediately changed his mind before rushing towards her. As a matter of fact, there was actually an ulterior motive to why he wouldn’t permit her to go out.

Not only his needs would be completely satiated, he could also keep her within his arms at all times. He thought that it was an absolute perfect plan. Nevertheless, Raven began to detach that plan from his mind due to the unexpected air of melancholy that was exuding from his wife.

“Why don’t the both of us go out tomorrow? Still, whenever you’ll be going out, you need to walk on a tight schedule—just to get ready.”

“Oh, really?”

“Of course. It happens to be my day off as well.”

“That’s really nice.”

Her soft smile—was never aware of anything about him—had caused him to smile as well. Raven immediately turned to the butler after leaving Molitia to ascend the stairs.

“Butler.”

Gilbert quickly picked up on his master’s sudden whisper.

“Yes.”

“Did anything occur today?”

“Nothing had happened to the duchy.”

After much hesitation, Gilbert ended up saying something that was quite odd, but neither true nor false.

In fact, no events had even transpired within the duchy itself. As per usual, she had greeted the guests before sending them off in due time. Nevertheless, he was just worried that the guest who had visited might give a huge blow to Madame.