Standard Contract Guidelines for a Fraudulent Marriage - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 24

“No, Duke!”

Liliet, who had been waiting in front of Adelia’s room with the lamp in hand, started at the sight and cried out.

Loaerston glanced down at Adelia, now asleep, and made a soft shushing sound before gesturing toward the closed door.

“Would you mind opening the door for me?”

Liliet, flustered though she was, promptly did as he asked.

A sharp smell of alcohol drifted from Adelia as she slept soundly.

Liliet’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Has the lady drunk herself into this state?”
“That’s right. Leave this to me—go fetch some cold water and a damp towel.”
“Yes, of course.”

As Liliet hurried out of the room in quick steps, Loaerston’s voice followed her.

“Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“…Bring an empty bucket as well, just in case.”

Liliet regarded him with a peculiar expression for a moment before hastening down toward the kitchen.

Once she had gone, Loaerston retrieved some paper and began fanning Adelia’s forehead.

When he pressed the back of his hand to her cheek, he felt a feverish warmth radiating from her skin.

“Adelia. Can you hear me?”

As he bent closer and spoke softly, the sleeping girl let out a small sound—”Mmm”—from her throat.

Whether she had actually answered or merely talked in her sleep, Loaerston couldn’t say. He frowned slightly at the disarray of her dress, then fanned her more vigorously.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable? Are you asleep?”
“No…”

Caught off guard by the response to his own question, Loaerston cautiously brought his hand toward Adelia’s forehead.

In that moment, what he had taken to be deep sleep dissolved into a soft, drowsy smile.

She tilted her head slightly, rubbing her forehead gently against his palm, and murmured:

“Your hand is… so cool.”
“Is my hand really that cold?”
“No, not exactly… just pleasantly cool… it feels nice.”

Then her small hands suddenly clamped around his wrist.

Loaerston found himself utterly unprepared for this turn of events.

He stood frozen, his lips parting soundlessly, when Liliet returned with what he had requested, stepping quickly into the room.

“Is the lady all right?”

Loaerston jerked his hand away from Adelia and rose awkwardly to his feet.

For reasons he couldn’t name, he felt as though he’d been caught doing something wrong, and heat crawled up the sides of his neck.

“She seems fine. It’s just the alcohol. She’s not used to it.”
“The lady has been drinking?”
“First time today. I should have been more careful about her tolerance. That’s on me.”
“I see. The lady as well, then…”

Liliet began gently wiping Adelia’s face with the damp towel, then started undoing the buttons at the top of her dress.

As the chemise beneath became visible, Loaerston spun around in alarm.

“Perhaps we should do that later.”
“If she sleeps like this, she’ll be quite uncomfortable. At least the corset ought to be loosened.”

Liliet, unaware that the two had never properly seen each other unclothed, thought nothing of a servant’s duty to manage undergarments in service of her mistress’s rest.

She arranged the dress hem and began untying the ribbon of the corset hidden beneath. Apparently quite constrained, Adelia whimpered like a child and suddenly rolled over.

The force of the movement caught Liliet off guard, and she stumbled slightly before steadying herself.

“Goodness, they do say sleeping people are stronger than you’d think.”

Loaerston could no longer remain idle at those words.

His tongue darted nervously across his lips, and with a reluctant sigh, he turned back.

“I’ll do it.”
“Your Grace?”
“Just hold the lamp.”

Loaerston turned Adelia onto her side and gazed quietly at the exposed curve of her shoulder blade and back.

Her skin was so pale, so impossibly smooth—he could almost imagine it leaving an impression on his fingertips like cream.

He kept his eyes averted from the subtle rise and fall of her breathing as he loosened the corset ribbon and drew it free.

“Hmm?”

Liliet watched him with concern and asked:

“Is something troubling you?”

Loaerston rubbed the corner of his mouth and shook his head.

“Not at all.”
“Will you be sleeping in the lady’s room tonight?”
“What?”

Loaerston’s voice rose sharply, as though he hadn’t heard her properly.

Liliet regarded him with even greater puzzlement.

Realizing his overreaction a beat too late, Loaerston fumbled through a series of excuses, his hands moving restlessly—patting his pockets, fidgeting with the air.

Yet his agitation only deepened Liliet’s suspicions.

“Are you truly all right?”
“I’m fine, I tell you. Liliet.”
“Yes, what is it?”

One word—’I’ll return to my room so Adelia can rest undisturbed’—would have settled everything.

Yet somehow the phrase wouldn’t leave his lips. Instead, Loaerston heard himself say:

“Everything’s fine here now. Go on and rest.”

Liliet straightened without the slightest doubt, lightly gathering her skirts and bowing.

“Sleep well, Your Grace.”

Once she had closed the door behind her, Loaerston splashed his face with cold water and gave a dry, rueful laugh.

Mad. Utterly mad.

There was no other explanation for it.

“Mmm…”

Then Adelia stirred, began to turn, and let out a soft whimper.

“Adelia?”
“Mmm… it’s in the way…”

The half-removed dress was bunched beneath her, pressing uncomfortably against her skin.

But Adelia only flailed about ineffectually.

Loaerston rapped his fingertips against his own lips, then shook his head vigorously. He moved to her side and sat at the head of the bed.

“Is it uncomfortable?”
“Yes…”
“Then I’ll help you remove it. Can you sit up for a moment?”

At his words, Adelia’s eyes opened wide and round.

Her face was endearing—all the more so in its current unguarded state, stripped of its usual rational composure. There was an almost defenseless beauty to her now.

Loaerston clenched his fists inwardly.

“I’ll do it.”

He began removing her dress, deliberately avoiding the gaze she still fixed upon him.

When she came to her senses, he could call Liliet back to finish.

If she came to her senses…

“It’s you.”

But the words that emerged from Adelia’s lips exceeded all his expectations.

“Yes, it’s me.”
“You… hee-hee.”

Hee-hee?

Loaerston looked down at her with an expression of bewilderment.

He found himself at a loss for words.

Watching this boneless, carelessly laughing version of her, he felt his resolve weaken—and simultaneously, tension coil tighter within him.

Her drowsy, unguarded laugh, so unlike her usual self, was charming—though he couldn’t quite decide what to call it.

“You… do you know how grateful I am to you?”
“Yes.”
“How much I owe you?”

Whether this was genuine intoxication or a drunken pretense at confession, he couldn’t tell.

Loaerston smiled and gently touched her cheek.

“What do you owe me for?”
“For this beautiful home, and the delicious food, and the lovely clothes…”
“You like those things?”
“And for letting me study… for giving me the chance to do everything. That’s why I… I want to repay it all soon… that’s why I’m working so hard.”

Her tongue loose and her words tumbling out unintelligibly, she still found a way to say everything.

He couldn’t help but smile at how endearing she was.

Adelia Whitten, drunk and rambling—who would have ever imagined such a thing?

“I told you before—you don’t owe me anything.”
“But I still want to… because you’re my Friend of Summer…”

Loaerston stroked her forehead, then tapped her nose lightly with his fingertip.

“That’s what we called ourselves in letters to my father.”
“Mmm?”
“To me, you should say ‘husband.'”

Adelia’s cheeks flushed as she giggled, then began struggling again to remove her clothes.

Loaerston felt his face ignite as though it would burn away entirely.

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