I Was Marked as the Grand Duke Male Lead’s Stepmother - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 41

 

‘From today on, please let me sleep well. Please, please…’

 

Marisselle poured the sleeping pills she had received from Samuel into her mouth and lay down straight on the bed with a desperate prayer in her heart.

 

‘I must have unknowingly overworked my brain too much in my eagerness to recover my memories quickly.’

 

Whenever she tried to sleep, her eyes would become wide awake, leaving her extremely fatigued.

 

Should she count sheep until the medicine took effect? She decided against it. She felt like counting sheep would actually keep her from sleeping.

 

Instead, she chose to zone out. She fixed an imaginary point on the ceiling and stared blankly at that spot alone.

 

How much time had passed? Marisselle’s eyelids gradually grew heavy and drooped halfway down, then finally covered her violet eyes completely.

 

Her breathing, which had been light and shallow, soon changed to deep, slow, and regular as she fell into a deep sleep.

 

Having fallen into deep sleep, Marisselle had a dream.

 

“Haetak! Get up quickly. You’ll be late for work at this rate!”

 

In her dream, Marisselle was hurriedly preparing for work in the form of Haetak Lee.

 

When Haetak in the dream finished his busy preparations and put on his coat, Marisselle also got up drowsily and put on the robe hanging in the wardrobe.

 

“I’ll be back.”

 

Haetak rushed out the door and came to the main street, standing to hail a taxi.

 

Marisselle also opened her room door, walked down the hallway, and stood in place.

 

Just then, Mother came running urgently.

 

“Haetak! Today’s a holiday. Sorry! Come back inside!”

 

In the dream, Haetak shouted angrily at Mother.

 

“Ah! Mother!”

 

Huffing and puffing, Haetak trudged back into the house.

 

Marisselle, who had been standing still in the hallway, also trudged back to her room.

 

Creak.

 

The hinges slowly opened as the heavy door swung open.

 

Like Haetak Lee in her dream, Marisselle also took off her clothes and slipped back under the covers, lying down.

 

* * *

 

He had just finished his late-night work and entered his bed.

 

The dark room.

 

Creak.

 

The door slowly opened with an eerie sound.

 

Morgan’s nerves became sharply alert.

 

A fearless uninvited guest in the middle of the night.

 

Morgan became displeased.

 

“…What little rat dares to be so fearless…”

 

His voice, laden with killing intent, rumbled low like a growl.

 

Nevertheless, the midnight intruder fearlessly approached Morgan step by step, very slowly.

 

But Morgan, who had been on guard against the approaching intruder, soon sensed something strange.

 

He couldn’t feel any hostility or killing intent that an assassin should naturally emit.

 

Instead, a familiar body scent penetrated his nostrils.

 

The silent figure was gradually approaching his bed.

 

“Marisselle…?!”

 

The owner of the silhouette was, as he had guessed, Marisselle.

 

Morgan called out to Marisselle quietly.

 

But Marisselle showed no reaction and instead took off her robe, letting it drop to the floor.

 

“…?”

 

Then she climbed onto his bed so naturally, pulled the covers over herself, and lay down.

 

“Marisselle…?”

 

Morgan called out to Marisselle again in bewilderment. But she still remained silent.

 

Instead, she only offered cute, gentle breathing sounds.

 

“…!”

 

Morgan was at a complete loss for words at this utterly unexpected situation and could only stare at Marisselle.

 

As he looked at her, he somehow felt like a scoundrel who had taken over Marisselle’s bed.

 

“….”

 

Morgan gazed at Marisselle for a long while before recalling what he had heard from Porel.

 

“She hasn’t been able to sleep for the past few days, so I believe she went to get sleeping pills from Samuel.”

 

…Marisselle had most likely taken sleeping pills before falling asleep.

 

If so, this situation must be a problem caused by the sleeping pills.

 

Otherwise, given her personality, this situation would be inexplicable.

 

“What should I do with this adorable little bird who came to me on her own…?”

 

Morgan fell into thought about what to do with Marisselle, who had suddenly appeared in his bedroom and was sleeping soundly as if it were her own bed.

 

After much consideration, there was no guarantee that Marisselle wouldn’t wander off to some other strange place if she woke up.

 

Having reached this conclusion, he made his decision.

 

He would let Marisselle sleep in his bed and take her back to her room before dawn.

 

“Sigh. There goes any chance of sleeping tonight.”

 

Morgan pressed his large hand against his forehead.

 

But as soon as he made his decision, dark desires began to rear their head.

 

How could they not? The woman he liked was sleeping defensively beside him, completely unaware of the world.

 

His reason urged him to quickly leave the bed, but his body wouldn’t obey.

 

On the other hand, he also felt spiteful.

 

‘It’s my bed. Why should I?’

 

He knew this too stemmed from his dark desires.

 

Her gently rising and falling breath, the warmth he could feel through the blankets was so sweet that his reason was on the verge of being paralyzed.

 

‘Sigh, this is driving me crazy.’

 

Morgan found it difficult to resist the temptation to keep touching Marisselle.

 

So he shoved both hands deep under his pillow. He even pressed down hard with his head as if putting on shackles.

 

Honestly, he found it hard to resist the temptation, but ironically, this moment of lying together with Marisselle felt like a gift, making it bearable.

 

But then.

 

“Mm…hmm.”

 

Marisselle stirred.

 

And she turned toward Morgan, placing her arm on his chest. She even wriggled and nestled in like a puppy burrowing next to its mother.

 

He held his breath with a sharp “Hup.”

 

The dark desires he had barely been holding back came crashing down.

 

The moment Marisselle made contact, every single cell in his body began to go wild.

 

A hair-trigger situation. Extremely dangerous.

 

He reflexively sprang out of bed like a coiled spring being released.

 

Meanwhile, Marisselle continued to slowly burrow into the spot where Morgan had been lying before stopping.

 

Morgan looked down at Marisselle and roughly rubbed his face with his hands repeatedly.

 

“Sigh. This is driving me crazy.”

 

He let out a deep sigh, roughly threw on his nightgown, and went to lie down on the long sofa.

 

He tried to sleep, but as expected, sleep was impossible.

 

* * *

 

Time flowed and flowed, and when the deep darkness had gradually turned into the dim light of dawn, there was the rustling sound of blankets being pushed aside.

 

“Yaaawn! Ugh-eeh-!”

 

Marisselle raised her arms high and stretched with a big yawn, making groaning sounds.

 

“Ugh- Oh my. My whole body aches. I feel like I slept well, so why does it feel like I did hard labor?”

 

Marisselle patted her shoulders and loosened up her body by turning her head left and right, back and forth, and in a full circle.

 

“…?”

 

What’s this? These furniture pieces?

 

These weren’t the furniture she usually saw when she woke up in the morning.

 

‘They couldn’t have remodeled the room overnight.’

 

Marisselle looked around carefully in all directions.

 

‘Huh’

 

“What! This is my room! This… isn’t right!”

 

Marisselle quickly surveyed the interior of the room. Fortunately, no one was visible.

 

It clearly wasn’t an empty room… and judging by how all the furniture was luxurious and large…

 

It seemed like she had entered the room she should have avoided most.

 

For instance…

 

Morgan’s bedroom!

 

As soon as Marisselle tentatively concluded this was Morgan’s room, she hurriedly got down from the bed and began smoothing and arranging the blankets.

 

As if nothing had happened.

 

Then she tiptoed quietly and rushed toward the door.

 

Just then, something caught on her toes with a thud!

 

‘Huh! Wh-what is this!’

 

“My, my gown, why is it here…?”

 

Marisselle thought she might faint for a moment.

 

There was no time to think leisurely. The urgent priority was to quickly pick it up and escape the scene.

 

Just then, a familiar voice was heard.

 

“Are you going to leave like a thief cat without even saying hello?”

 

“…!”

 

At the familiar voice, Marisselle froze in place. And she squeezed her eyes shut.

 

This is terrible!

 

Unfortunately, this room was indeed Morgan’s bedroom, just as she had suspected.

 

Morgan leisurely rose from the sofa and strode closer to Marisselle.

 

“How disappointing… Not only did you barge in during the middle of the night, you even stole my bed and slept like you owned the world, and now you’re trying to sneak away? Thanks to you, the bed’s owner couldn’t get a wink of sleep.”

 

“N-no, that’s not… I’m sorry, Your Highness. And thank you!”

 

Marisselle started to make some excuse but stopped, quickly bowing deeply and asking Morgan for forgiveness.

 

“I’ll gladly accept any punishment.”

 

Marisselle couldn’t lift her head.

 

“You’ll gladly accept any punishment…”

 

Morgan gently lifted Marisselle’s chin to make her look at him.

 

Then he smoothed her tousled hair and tucked it behind her ear, seeming lost in thought for a moment before giving a mischievous smile.

 

“Really? Then I’ll put this on my useful tab too.”

 

“Pardon…?”

 

Tab?

 

‘Morgan uses words like that?’

 

In this serious situation, when a word that Morgan would never use flowed from his lips, Marisselle absurdly found her focus stuck on that detail.

 

‘Hey! Get it together! Is now the time to worry about tabs in this situation?’

 

Marisselle harshly scolded herself for being foolishly fixated on something irrelevant.

 

But separately from that, Marisselle’s face began to burn.

 

Out of nowhere, Morgan had gently tucked her hair behind her ear. Moreover, why did his fingers touching her ear tip and his gaze feel so tender?

 

The place his touch had reached burned as if scorched by fire, and though her heart was undoubtedly her own, it began to race regardless of her will.

 

‘Tucking hair behind the ear, isn’t that something only people who are close can do?’

 

Marisselle unconsciously fanned herself with her hand to cool the rising heat and quickly turned her head away.

 

‘I must be crazy. Unless I’ve gone mad…’

 

She thought she should leave this place quickly before showing an even more embarrassing side of herself.

 

“Your Highness, please let me know when you’ve decided. And once again, I’m sorry and thank you. Well then, I’ll be going…”

 

Marisselle hurriedly finished her greeting and headed for the door.

 

But just as she was about to close the door and leave, Morgan grabbed the door.

 

“…?”

 

“When day breaks, ask Samuel to find the cause.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“You must be anxious about doing this in your sleep. Though it’s probably a temporary phenomenon.”

 

She was so embarrassed she wanted to hide in a mouse hole, yet why was he being so gentle in the midst of all this?

 

“Ah. Yes… Thank you, Your Highness.”

 

Marisselle had no choice but to force an awkward smile.

 

Morgan wore a faint smile as he spoke in a still gentle voice.

 

“Go on.”

 

“Yes… Then.”

 

Marisselle apologized to Morgan once more and closed the door.

 

Then she quickly scanned her surroundings.

 

‘Phew’

 

Fortunately, since it was before dawn, no one seemed to be walking around.

 

Marisselle let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly ran to her room before anyone could see her.

 

But there was someone who had been secretly watching this scene.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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