The Male Lead Knelt Before Me - Chapter 97

‘I can’t believe he gave me a room so close to Caleb’s room.’

As I stood there stunned by the unexpected fact, the butler explained.

“I had intended to complete cleaning up the other room, but since you were sleeping peacefully last night, I had some more time, so I rearranged the room where you’d stay. Let’s go inside and look around, my lady.”

I opened the door at the butler’s suggestion.

The layout of the room reminded me of Caleb’s, and the more I looked around, the more I felt a peculiar certainty.

That this is the duchess’s room.

‘Ah, I’m embarrassed.’

Caleb had previously informed me that we would conduct an engagement ceremony shortly, but being engaged to Caleb still didn’t feel realistic.

However, receiving the duchess’s room in this manner jolted my sense of reality.

That I am truly getting engaged to Caleb.

“I had the maids sort and arrange your belongings arbitrarily. If you tell me what you don’t like or what you need, I’ll instruct the decorator to fix it to your satisfaction in the afternoon.”

“Oh, yes.”

I replied with an awkward smile.

After listening to the butler, I remembered that I just fell asleep yesterday.

Originally, we were supposed to have completed discussing this yesterday…

I looked around the room carefully because I was embarrassed for no reason.

Come to think of it, there’s no bookshelf in the room.

“Is it possible to put bookshelves in the room? I have a hobby of collecting theatrical scripts.”

“Then you need a library, my lady.” I think it would be better to make a new room for that, what do you think?”

“That would be great, but…… are I allowed to do that?”

“Certainly, my lady.”

I could have my own library.

I was ecstatic at the thought of filling the library with theatrical scripts.

The butler then introduced the maids and maid in waiting who would attend to me. Then I decided to take a tour around the castle with the butler.

The corridor packed with portraits was the first destination the butler escorted me.

“The portraits of the duke and duchess are arranged in this order, starting with the very first duke and duchess. On the other side, there are portraits of the vassals who have accomplished a lot.”

“May I have a look around?”

“Certainly, my lady.”

In response to the butler’s comments, I wandered around the corridor.

It’s a place I’ll visit frequently in the future, but as this was my first visit, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

And while I was looking over all the portraits, I noticed something.

‘All the dukes had silver hair.’

The dukes’ eyes were all distinct in hue and appearance, but they all had silver hair.

With the knowledge I have learned, silver hair cannot come out consistently, no matter how direct the heritage is…… I’m not sure if I can put it this way, but this is something that could only happen in fiction.

‘I wonder whether my child with Caleb will have silver hair……’

I halted as I casually pondered that.

I was immediately taken aback.

‘How could I think of a baby with Caleb at this moment!?’

Ugh, what was I thinking just now?

Let’s calm down.

No matter how soon we got engaged, isn’t it still too early to think about a baby?

I pretended to walk along the corridor, attempting to cool my burning cheeks.

Even though I was walking, I couldn’t afford to glance at the other portraits after that since my thoughts were elsewhere.

And just as I was going to continue strolling aimlessly, my step abruptly came to a halt.

“This……”

“This is his excellency’s portrait.”

The butler, who had overheard my murmuring, explained.

And I just gazed at the portrait.

A portrait of a child that resembled Caleb and was staring at me.

However, looking at the child in the portrait, it was hard to imagine that the child was Caleb.

The child’s baby fat remained, making his face round and relaxed with his big cheeks.

When I casually examined the gold tag and estimated the year, I realized it was a portrait of Caleb when he was eight years old.

It’s no surprise he looked so adorable here.

Unlike portraits of previous dukes and duchesses, there were many portraits of Caleb since childhood.

As a result, I was able to appreciate Caleb’s portrait to my heart’s delight.

“This is a portrait that was painted last year when his excellency took over as Duke. And since then, his excellency hasn’t painted a portrait.”

How come?

I considered asking the butler but quickly shut my mouth shut.

Caleb inherited the duke title at a young age.

And because of that, it made Caleb the youngest one among his peers who had ever succeeded the family title.

Furthermore, there was no duke and duchess couple present in the dukedom, and Caleb became a duke at the age of twenty-five.

What this indicated was obvious.

‘The duke and duchess have passed away.’

After realizing it, unlike other portraits, Caleb’s face on this portrait looked especially gloomy.

At the same time, somehow my mood also became gloomy.

Of course, the sensation didn’t stay long because of the butler’s following statements.

“By next year, there will be a new portrait next to it.”

“Next year……?”

As I expressed my wonder, the butler only smiled meaningfully and recommended that I look around to the next place.

It was only afterwards that I realized what the butler’s remarks meant, which caused my face to flush.

⇺⇺⇺⇼⇻⇻⇻

The Duke Mansion was enormous. Despite merely looking around the main areas, such as the banquet hall, I ended up eating my lunch late.

I was going to stretch out after eating lunch and was about to get up from my seat.

“Please have a dessert, my lady.”

In front of me was the same sherbet I had the day before.

‘Does sherbet always come as a dessert or snack at this mansion?’

The maid explained it to me while I was staring at the sherbet.

“My lady, His Excellency has made a specific request. His excellency had instructed us to prepare this for you because you seemed to enjoy it, my lady.”

I suddenly remembered that Caleb had promised to serve me this sherbet tomorrow if I wanted to eat it.

I thought he was just saying it in jest, but I didn’t expect him to remember and take care of it immediately.

I spooned the sherbet into my mouth.

My mouth was chilly from the sherbet I put in, but my heart was as warm as happy as could be.

⇺⇺⇺⇼⇻⇻⇻

The happy moment was brief. Because despite my expectation that I would be able to relax after eating the dessert, the decorator arrived and we discussed the room’s decorating.

My mouth made a groaning sound as I lay down on the bed.

‘I never knew decorating a room would be this difficult and time-consuming……’

Actually, I didn’t believe there was anything to be fixed. Because the room was great from the beginning.

However, this did not appear to be the case with the butler and the decorator.

They talked about it more passionately than I did and made suggestions to me, which led to the unexpected decision to replace the furnishings.

‘But it was a lot of fun talking about how to design the library.’

I was really delighted and expressed my opinion while picking lamp-shaped lights and bookshelves as lights to be installed here and there.

Of course, I’m exhausted after everything.

Come to think of it, I remember the decorator instructed me to check if the furniture within the bedroom is in good condition, since they will have to replace it if something is wrong with it……

I recall the request of the decorator.

It would be good to check it together, but I was advised that checking it alone would be best because my bedroom is my private space.

I pulled myself up and walked slowly around the room, inspecting each piece of furniture.

I need to check to see whether the drawers open correctly and if anything needs to be replaced.

Perhaps there are more empty drawers than filled ones since I didn’t have many possessions to begin with.

And after opening the drawers a few times, I realized that several of them were unexpectedly broken.

‘It would have been a real pain if I hadn’t checked.’

I eagerly opened all the drawers in the room.

And as I unlocked the final drawer of the small cabinet beside the bed.

Contrary to my expectation that it would be empty like the others, I discovered a little bottle within the drawer.

“What’s this?”

I pulled the small bottle from the drawer.

Is this holy water?

As I looked around, I noticed the letters were engraved on the glass bottle containing the liquid medicine.

What exactly does it say?

I squint and gaze at the bottle, but the letters are difficult to read since they are mirrored by the light.

“Con……”

I could hardly read the letters after groping for a long time with my fingertips on the engraving letters.

“Cotra…… contraceptive drug?”

I could sense the intensity of the word as I pronounced it out.

Is that what I read?

Isn’t it more customary to engrave the brand name on the bottle?

Why are the drug’s initials engraved in such open space?

Of course, it’s because of this that I can tell what sort of medicine it is right away.

“What the heck is this doing in here……”

I was looking blankly at the bottle at the time, unable to resist the unanticipated perplexity.

Knock knock-

“Are you in there, Elena?”

Caleb’s voice could be heard through the door.

When did he come back? I didn’t hear the sound of the carriage approaching.

I dashed out the door after hastily closing the drawer.

“이에나?”

“Elena?”

Caleb gazed at me in awe as I rushed out the door.

Ahaha… My mouth made an awkward laugh.

“Are you already returned?”

“Yes, I have returned. Was there anything else you were working on?”

“Oh, uhm, no?”

Caleb’s eyes moved through my back to the door and then back to me.

The meaningless gaze made my heart pound for nothing.

It’s not like I was preoccupied with anything, but…… why do I feel like I lied?

It feels as if I did something wrong.

Caleb, thankfully, did not question my behavior too much.

“How about eating dinner together if you haven’t already?”

“That would be great. But don’t you think you should first change?”

It must be difficult to stay in that uniform.

“Could you just wait a moment? I’ll be right back after I’ve changed.”

“I certainly will.”

While I casually nodded, I saw a crimson stain on Caleb’s chest. What’s that?

“Wait a minute, Duke.”

Caleb, who was on his way to his room, came to a halt at my remarks.

I approached Caleb and stroked the crimson spot on his chest.

I could feel him flinch, but I couldn’t care less since I was too preoccupied with touching the stain on his uniform.

The form, texture, and color resemble blood……

“Did you get hurt, Duke?”

“……I accidentally injured my hand. I think that’s when the stain left.”

My gaze was drawn to Caleb’s hand.

However, because he was wearing gloves, I couldn’t see the wound.

“Did you receive any treatment?”

“Yes, I spilled the holy water I usually keep with me, and I’m alright now.”

Why can’t I believe what he says?

“I will.”

Caleb removed his gloves and extended his hands to me gently.