Duke, Please Stop Because it Hurts

Raven just couldn’t resist his wife’s charm as he bowed his head down. His dry lips started to touch as they fell upon her, which had slightly flicked her bangs aside.

The warmth was quickly added to color her lovely reddened face. Molitia still seemed to be at the edge of her own dreams. And her husband, who was smiling softly today, appeared to be rather suspicious.

“Is this the budget that was allocated to the mansion for this month?”

As Raven’s eyes glanced towards the document that she had been looking at, Molitia immediately tried to conceal her thoughts.

“Yes, and these are the funds for the second half of the year itself. If you were to combine this month’s budget along with the remaining amount from last month, it might produce a much larger amount than what we have set before. Oh, but there’s something which I’ve missed due to the tea party, even so…”

“I didn’t spend much of the money that was allocated to the Knights for this month, so I can just take it out. And this amount right here is actually reserved—just in case you weren’t aware of it—so, if you ever find yourself in a hurry, you can just take some out from here.”

“I see, then…”

Raven glanced up at her all the while she was conversing ceaselessly in earnest. Her eyes were extremely focused on the documents and her small lips were dancing away.

Did she always have a habit of talking whenever she was concentrating? The thick lips of hers were protruding slightly more than usual. When he saw her quirk for the first time ever, Raven began to draw a smile around his mouth.

‘I want to kiss you.’

Impulsive thoughts had immediately dominated his mind, albeit briefly. He had to stay calm, but he just couldn’t do it. As soon as he had acknowledged his feelings, he began to grow much more impatient. He just wanted to reach her out and embrace her within his arms.

“…so, Raven—Raven? Are you listening?”

Molitia’s eyes eventually met with his. He could finally manage to stop his delusions only when her round eyes had been tilted innocently.

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m thinking of having another tea party soon.”

“Is the incident with Lady Clemence still not over yet?”

“It’s rather different this time. I’d like to take upon this opportunity to make friends with those people whom I’ve already met before. I feel quite greedy as well since it seems like people like me more than I thought they’d be.”

Raven frowned. Raven wanted to praise her enthusiasm, but he was still quite worried about her body.

As a result of his observation while Molitia was making everything ready, the tea party suddenly had more work to do than expected. He had to compile a list of people to invite, in addition to  decorating the Duchy in such a way that she would be able to hold a tea party under any circumstances.

It was also necessary to be informed to the guests in advance in order to recall the certain individual characteristics before sharing that information among the servants as well.

It was said to be rather slow, but in most cases, it wasn’t that heavy of a labor. In fact, she even complained of vertigo right after the event.

Raven’s resolve became much firmer when he had thought about her petite that had once stumbled before.

“Why don’t you think about your body first and only organize it after a while?”

“But—is that okay?”

“I don’t really know much about those social circles, but they’re mostly open for quite some time. There’ll be a pretty strong gale coming up, so it won’t hurt to hold it in a cozier drawing room.”

Molitia nodded her head at his grand yet reasonable words. And all of these were due to the forewarning that came from the butler himself.

“Then, I should do just that.”

The thought of protecting her whole body had filled Raven with much pride.

“Oh, the tea party made me think of Baroness Nisser. Negotiations with the Kingdom of Portan seem to be quite troubling. I’m quite worried since I’ve been rather choosy in regard to any of the requests lately.”

“The Kingdom of Portan?”

“Looking at Marchioness Nibeia’s poor expression, it appears that she might have something in mind—but she still professes that she’s okay.”

“Yes.”

Marchioness Nibeia had already known of her. She, who had been running the merchant group in the empire, was also a coveted figure by many of the rising forces.

Furthermore, the merchant group of Nibeia was fairly prominent in the empire as well. On top of that, she was proud of herself for not missing a single thing at all as she cared very much regarding the place that she had just mentioned. The Kingdom of Portan was a place where work had been frequent due to the recent civil war. Raven immediately felt that something was slightly unusual.

“Let’s find out, then.”