Chapter 15: Don’t Touch Me (2)

I ran through different possibilities in my mind as to who could possibly need the duchess’ attention at this hour. There was no way a maid would enter the room this late at night, unless maybe during an emergency.

Don’t tell me, is it Kyle?

I stopped and stared at the door to figure out who was entering. The mysterious visitor was indeed Kyle Romani. He glanced at me and moved straight to the sofa, as if such behavior was natural.

But isn’t this the same situation as our first night?

“Are you going to sleep in this room tonight?” I asked.

Instead of answering my question, Kyle just looked at me. His golden eyes flickered beautifully. Was the dim light causing them to glow so breathtakingly at the moment?

“Did you also come here yesterday?” I continued, despite his lack of response.

“…”

“You’re not going to sleep on that couch again, are you?”

“That’s right.”

Kyle’s curt words barely counted as an answer to my persistent questioning, but I let it slide.

We share a room, but I’m uncomfortable if one of us has to sleep on the sofa.

During my first night in the mansion, I had been so exhausted by our initial meeting that I hadn’t fought him on the matter, but I couldn’t allow it to happen twice. Besides, sleeping on a sofa over a long period of time will inevitably lead to back problems, and I wanted to avoid the possibility of one day sleeping there if Kyle ever forced me off the bed.

What are we going to do about this? How do I solve this problem?

After contemplating possible solutions, I moved to one side of the mattress and gestured toward the other side.

“Archduke, rather than sleep on the sofa, why don’t you sleep here with me?”

Kyle looked disturbed at my words. The air had even seemed to grow colder than usual around him. I continued pointing at the other side of the mattress while ignoring the frightfully chilly aura he emanated.

“Are you not understanding what I’m talking about? You can sleep here with me.”

“Are you finally going crazy?” he glowered in response to my offer.

It wasn’t like I had asked him to do anything weird, so he really had no reason to accuse me of being crazy. I had only suggested that he lie down next to me.

Why is he putting on such a serious face for?

I softly sighed and tried again to persuade him.

“What’s wrong with that? We’re a married couple, after all.”

“… Couple?”

“Yes. Whether it’s a contract marriage or a political marriage, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m your wife. The same also applies to you.”

“…”

“If you want to rest properly, you should sleep on the bed. You want to be in good condition for tomorrow’s schedule, right?

I kept trying to convince him. In addition to what I had mentioned before, I had other reasons why I didn’t want him sleeping on the sofa. For one, it would be inconvenient for me if he were to see my ungraceful sleeping state again since the sofa was the perfect vantage point for that. Of course, I had also been at fault for waking him up before.

“I feel more comfortable here,” his voice was terse and uncooperative.

Frankly speaking, it confused me to no end why Kyle insisted on being so difficult on the matter. Clearly, sleeping in a bed would be infinitely more comfortable than a sofa. Normal methods of persuasion didn’t seem to work on him, so I had no choice but to change my plan of attack.

“I know you feel comfortable there, but I’m the one who ends up feeling uncomfortable if you sleep on the sofa. So, if you don’t sleep in the bed, I’ll whine about it all night, and then I’ll be tired tomorrow from lack of sleep. Jean will notice and then ask what’s wrong with me.”

“…”

“What do you think I’ll say to Jean’s question?”

Kyle’s golden eyes had been casually watching me, but they narrowed dangerously in irritation at my remarks.

Using Jean was truly a great idea.

Kyle scowled fiercely at me a second time.

“I’m not going to take off my clothes,” he said, “and I’m also not going to take off your clothes.”

Huh?

Why was Kyle suddenly talking about clothes? Was he still thinking about what I had said during our first night together? Sometimes I honestly could not predict what kind of thoughts were going through that man’s mind, but I couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Don’t worry,” I smiled, “I won’t ask you to take off my clothes today, because I don’t have anything to take off.”

I wasn’t lying. Unlike the nun-like habit I sported a couple of nights ago, tonight I wore thin, comfortable pajamas. If I were to take them off, I would be completely naked.

But I don’t need to explain that to him.

After contemplating my words for a moment, Kyle stood up and walked towards me before settling himself on the very opposite edge of the mattress, as far away as he could reasonably be from my side. I shook my head and pointed at the empty spot in the middle of the bed.

“Move a little bit more to this side, or else you’re going to fall off if you sleep like that.”

“No, I don’t want that spot.”

“The bed is large enough so that we won’t touch each other. Isn’t it fine in that case? I also don’t move a lot when I’m sleeping, so it’s alright to get closer to me.”

Only

“I said that I didn’t want it.”

Kyle tightly shut his eyes as he stubbornly refused my offer.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Whatever, I don’t care anymore. If other people were to see how we sleep, they’ll think that I’m attacking you or something.

I glared at him in discontent. At that moment, I remembered that my goal was to simply survive in this world.

If that is still my goal, then I wouldn’t suggest being any nearer to this dangerous man than I need to be.

Part of me wondered if I were to find a way back to my world, would I then give up on trying to save Kyle from his curse?

Is it even possible for me to leave him?

I asked myself that question from the bottom of my heart. It was hard for me to come up with an answer. After seeing so many different and interesting sides to him in such a short period of time, I had become quite attached. Additionally, I truly sympathized with his plight. I always thought that it was natural for me, the original author, to feel guilty leaving behind this character that I had so thoughtfully created. Yet, I knew deep down in my soul that my conscience wasn’t the real reason preventing me from leaving him.