Chapter 11

Am I thirsty because I’m nervous?

“Already?” I looked out the window.

The sun hasn’t set yet.

This meant that there was still time before Duke Mayhard came to the chamber.

While Yelena felt embarrassed due to her nervousness, she suddenly realized.

“Ah, it was obvious.”

This wasn’t a normal union.

It was different from having a normal night as a couple.

This was the first step to save the world.

“That’s right, I have to give birth to a warrior.” Yelena thought as she put down her empty glass.

Yelena must give birth to Duke Mayhard’s son, who will, later on, become a warrior and save the world.

As she thought about her mission, her rapidly beating heart calmed down.

Yelena’s mind became clear as she thought about her duty.

“A son. I must give birth to a son.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

That was the sole purpose of this marriage.

The future of the world rested on her shoulders, and this weight of responsibility was heavy on her shoulders.

Yelena did not reach out for the glass once more.

Nighttime arrived quickly.

As she was sitting on the bed after getting ready to sleep, she got startled at the sound of the door opening.

The culprit paused as he was about to enter the room.

“Did I startle you?”

“No, please come in,” Yelena said as she gestured him in with her hand.

The door behind Duke Mayhard closed as he stepped inside the room.

“He’s big,” Yelena thought as she stared at his nearing figure.

Since he was always sitting in his office during the day, she didn’t give it much thought but as she stared at his standing figure, she realized he was really big.

She remembered her first impression of him at the wedding and suddenly became worried.

“Would I be fine?”

No. Everything must be fine.

Even if things went wrong, she had no other choice.

While all these thoughts were running through Yelena’s mind, Duke Mayhard had gotten closer to the bed.

As the distance between them shortened, she could see the duke’s face and figure clearly.

Yelena studied the Duke’s clothing as she could feel herself tense up.

His clothes seemed lighter than when she saw him during the day.

In his office, he wore a tie that seemed really suffocating to look at but now his choice of clothing was a thing shirt and pants.

Maybe it was because he was wearing a thing shirt, but she could see the buttons being stretched out on his chest.

“That’s nice.” Yelena unintentionally thought.

“What did I just think about?” While Yelena was bewildered by her own thoughts, the Duke had completely made his way to the bed.

The nightstand beside the bed illuminated his figure and Yelena swallowed nervously.

Duke Mayhard said “really..” when the hands she laid on the bed nervously formed into fists.

“What?”

“Are you really going to be sleeping with me tonight?”

Why’s he asking such an obvious question? Yelena thought as she nodded her head.

“Yes”

“…..”

“I already told you, I don’t like sleeping alone. If not with my husband, who would I sleep with?”

Just in case, she used the same excuse she used during the day in his office.

But while answering, Yelena was confused. Weren’t married couples supposed to sleep together? She thought it was something natural without any discussion.

“….”

But the silent Duke seemed surprised as if he didn’t expect this situation.

“Alright.” replied the Duke after a long moment of silence.

As he stretched his arm towards the nightstand, Yelana asked, “are you turning off the lights?”

“Yes.” Duke Mayhard replied back as if it was obvious.

Is it supposed to be obvious?

“I intentionally kept the lights dim..”

This was to create the mood between them.

Yelena wanted to light up a candle but in case of a fire, she settled with dimming the lights of the lamp.

“But I guess he likes complete darkness.” Yelena thought.

She was also fine with complete darkness since she wouldn’t see anything.

“Strangely I feel a bit disappointed..”

Then she realized her husband hadn’t taken off his clothes.

Isn’t it better to undress before turning off the lights?

If he wanted to unbutton all his buttons, it would be better if he did that while the lights were turned on.

It doesn’t really mean anything, she just wanted to state that fact while considering comfort and convenience.

“Aren’t you going to undress?”

Duke Mayhard paused for a moment and answered, “this is more comfortable.”

“What?” Yelena thought as she tried to figure out his answer, what did he mean by that?

Does he mean it’s more comfortable to undress with the lights off?

If it’s not that… as Yelena was lost in her thoughts, the lamp’s lights were turned off.

The whole chamber had turned dark and Yelena could feel the bed’s movement as the Duke moved around.

Confused, Yelena decided to lay down.

Even though she’s clueless, doesn’t it usually happen with the girl laying down?

She stiffly laid down with her eyes tightly closed and waited for what was about to happen to her.

But as moments passed, nothing happened.

She kept her eyes tightly close and didn’t dare to move. But as nothing happened, she peeked around and turned her head towards the Duke, who was relaxed on his side of the bed.

His eyes were closed as he didn’t move an inch, like a sleeping person.

Yelena blinked confusedly. There was no way he had already fallen asleep in such a short amount of time.

But that wasn’t the problem. Anyone looking at him would know that he was in a sleeping position.

Surprised, Yelena thought to herself, “what’s happening?”

She couldn’t believe with her own eyes that he was asleep.

He’s really sleeping? Just like that? Without doing anything?

Her mind went blank as she was lost.

She stared at the sleeping Duke once again and blinked multiple times.

However, her agitation didn’t last long because she was exhausted as well.

She had mentioned back in the office that she had trouble sleeping because she was waiting for someone.

Yelena soon fell asleep along with her thoughts.

The next morning, Yelena knew she had a good night’s sleep as she woke up.

Her body felt as light as a feather.

She had the best sleep she’s had in days.

But in contrast to her light body, her mind was clouded with worries.

Yelena gazed at the empty spot beside her.

She had woken up pretty early but Duke Mayhard had already left the chambers.

When she had first opened her eyes, she touched the spot where the Duke was occupying and she could still feel the warmth of his body.

This meant that he had woken up just a bit before her.

“How hard-working”

But that wasn’t the issue right now.

Yelena washed her face with the lukewarm water that the maid had brought in and as the maids were preparing her clothes, she thought to herself “why did he just go to sleep last night?”

Logically, yesterday was their first night together since they both slept on the same bed together after their marriage.

But to Yelena’s knowledge, something should’ve happened last night, that’s how it was for a married couple.

But nothing had happened.

Yelena and her husband had both fallen asleep.

She slept peacefully but she found the situation weird as she kept thinking about it.

“Would you like to have breakfast in the dining room?” the maid asked her as she was lost in her own thoughts.

Yelena suddenly remembered a scene from a novel she read before. After the female protagonist of the novel spent her first night with her husband, she was too embarrassed to look at her husband’s face and did not go out to eat.

She suddenly had a bad gut feeling but decided to go eat in the dining room.

She confidently walked towards the dining room as she had no reason to be embarrassed about anything.

There was no sign of Duke Mayhard as she neared the dining room.

“Does the Duke skip breakfast?”

“He often eats in his office.”

It meant that was the case today as well.

“I see..”

Yelena picked on her breakfast and slowly accepted yesterday’s event.

That was because she had remembered her friend’s past experiences.

Yelena’s friend, who had become the count’s wife had spent their first night together after two months of getting married.

She heard that it was because the count was being considerate of his wife and was waiting until she was ready.

As she remembered this, she understood that yesterday was the same case scenario.

“You don’t really need to do the same for me though…”