Chapter 15 (1/2)

Chapter 15 The Ducal Couple (3)

translated by: iseuli

edited by: libramuse + lili

One Morning.

Lucia observed the morning sunlight shining through and into her bedroom. She blinked several times to chase away her drowsiness. Using her hands, she brought herself upright.

Fatigue attacked every part of her body. She had grown used to waking up feeling tired. For the past month, Hugo had been visiting her bedroom every night, pouncing on her like a wild animal.

The explosive pleasures she shared with him drained a lot of her stamina. There was never a time that he would finish quickly; he would only stop after Lucia fainted from exhaustion.

She was kept awake together with him all night long. Each day, she would spend her day nodding off due to drowsiness, and when she managed to gather a bit of strength, night would arrive. Then he would lead her onto the bed for a night-long event. While she idled her days away, a whole month had passed within the blink of an eye.

By now, her body was getting used to these night long events and she was able to get up earlier while not feeling as fatigued. The first week, she was only able to rise by late afternoon.

Of course Lucia would never admit to him that her own stamina had gotten better. If she did, he would pounce on her with more fearsome strength than now. She wanted to stop spending her days in bed. It was so embarrassing to face all the servants tending to her.

Yesterday, he had been more persistent than usual. It felt like she could still feel him tightly thrusting into her. If she truly abhorred doing this, all she had to do was refuse. He wasn’t one to rape her just because she refused. Honestly, it was tiresome but it was also nice.

Gratifying sex and many sensual orgasms causes fatigue, but it also brought forth a fulfilling feeling. He expertly rolled her left and right while pleasuring every corner of her body with his tongue. She wasn’t able to compare him with any other man nor will she ever have the chance to in the future, but she understood that he was quite skilled at this.

He pleasured her on bed, off the bed, even on top of tables and sofas. Every day he pleasured her in a new ways while supporting her body in various positions. Although the nights were long, she could not feel any aversion to the sensual activities between a man and woman.

At first, she was shocked and thought of him as nothing but a beast. However eventually, she found herself climbing on top of him while bouncing her own hips up and down. Within just a month, he had taught Lucia the joys of sexual pleasure.

She pulled on a rope to call the maids. She washed and changed her clothes. Lucia observed her reflection with strange eyes. The maids behind her had their eyes facing the floor with shy eyes.

Lucia had worn a dress with a low cut neck-line and it revealed many rosy kiss marks. It looked like she had some kind of skin disease. The weather was growing hotter day by day but she had to cover herself up completely. Lucia sighed heavily and spoke.

“… I can’t go out like this. Bring me something else. A dress that will completely cover my neck.”

“Yes, madam.”

The maids moved around busily. Lucia no longer felt embarrassed, she was shameless at this point. If anyone were to be in her situation every morning for a whole month, they would feel the same.

They were newlyweds, it’s to be expected. But, it seems everyone around her was surprised that the duke would visit her every night. All the servants had been friendly to start with, but now everyone was serving her in cold sweat. She realized there was nothing more powerful than having a husband’s love.

Late morning, Lucia enjoyed tea time on a simple table under the shade at the castle garden. This had been one of her daily tasks.

‘What a desolate garden …’

The castle garden was vast and it was filled with nothing but year-round perennials. There wasn’t a single flower in sight. One could not witness a speck of orange during autumn. The garden remained in the exact same condition even during winter. This style required less maintenance, but claiming it to be a garden was quite laughable.

‘Shall I renovate the garden …?’

Other than Duke of Taran and his son, she was the only other person in the Taran family – the duchess. The duchess was usually the one to take charge in the designs of the castle interiors as well as the garden.

‘There’s not much else to do …’

Throughout Lucia’s stay, she didn’t have anything to do. She didn’t learn flower arranging to pass the time like other noble women do nor did she have any particular hobbies. She didn’t find joy in luxuries such as jewelry and accessories neither so there was no reason for her to shop for them. Every day, she read books for several hours and the remaining time was spent drinking tea and taking light walks.

‘I really … feel like a good for nothing.’

One who doesn’t work, doesn’t deserve to eat. In Lucia’s dream, she had lived by these words. When she was the Count’s wife she had the job of partaking in parties and make connections with those in high society. On the contrary, if Hugo were to know this, he would have been confused. ‘How can you have nothing to do?’ In his opinion, though she still had a long way to go, she was fulfilling her role as the duchess very well.

“Madam.”

While she wondered whether to start heading in, Jerome interrupted her thoughts. Jerome handed a single envelope to Lucia. Inside, she found a document. She scanned through the sheet of paper with furrowed brows.

“… It’s the management of household accounts.”

“Yes, Madam. It took some time to draw up a new budget because we never managed it before today.”

All noble women who were married had to manage their own household allowances. In the royal palace, the queens and consorts were given allowances for overlooking and managing all the court ladies. Noble women were responsible for managing household living necessities such as the interior design of the house, hiring servants, and organizing parties for various social events.

“Originally, the budget didn’t include employment of servants and basic castle maintenance. This is the new regulated budget plan so that you will be able to control all the different aspects.”

“The newly calculated budget plan …? How much of this money am I allowed to use? Isn’t this money to be applied solely for employment wages and maintenance?”

“There will be gradual changes in the future. Madam, you will be the one who has the responsibility in making decisions on how this money will be spent. As long as it is within the budget, it is up to you how you spend this money.”

This place really had become Lucia’s very own private property. The amount of money was huge. She could barely count all the zeros that followed the first digit. This budget was extravagant, but Jerome had spoken of this budget as a mere trifling afterthought. As expected for a ducal household, their income is in another level than others.

‘So now my life as a leech comes to an end …’

Now that she had been given a job, she had to show satisfactory results. As the prestige of the title of a noble increased, so did their amount of work. It was basic knowledge that the lady of the house was responsible for maintaining the harmony of the household. More importantly, they held the responsibility to support their husbands in the world of nobility.

‘Let’s start from the garden …’

She didn’t have much knowledge on gardening. She had never taken care of a garden back in her dream when she was married to Count Matin. It took a lot of money to maintain a garden and Count Matin didn’t wish to waste his money on such things.

When she expressed her intentions, Jerome immediately organized a plan and relayed any of his own tips to her.

This would be the end of her draining mindless days. Today, Lucia ate her dinner alone. Although the ducal couple ate breakfast and lunch on their own time, they usually took the time to eat dinner together. On this day, he had business outside and returned home far past dinner time.

Lucia read books in the private study, took a bath, and dried her wet hair in her bedroom. Usually her maids tended to her, but at this hour was the time he usually frequented her bed chambers.

Click, his grace entered her room by letting himself in. After he had chased away all his attendants, he welcomed himself into her room while wearing a single bath robe. This was also the case for Lucia. She had tied her bathrobe tightly and looked very proper, but underneath she wasn’t wearing anything at all. At first, she felt odd, but now this felt natural for her.

He approached Lucia who was in front of her vanity mirror and gave her a back hug while kissing the back of her neck. Lucia closed her eyes while feeling his lips that on her nape. Her body felt faint. Was this what happiness is suppose to feel like? She felt a creeping fear that she would never be able to forget this moment and would live the rest of her life feeling lonely.

“I asked Jerome to deliver you something, did you receive it?”

“Yes. I decided … I wanted to revamp the castle garden.”

“The garden?”

“I saw there were no flowers, was that your intentions? Is it okay for me to redesign the garden?”

“The lady of the house had always been in charge of the garden. Do as you please.”

“We have to hire a landscape gardener and create a plan before doing anything. We will need to hire a large labor force in the beginning so the castle could become crowded. I don’t know if that would irritate you.”

Hugo knew nothing about the garden. In the first place, he had no interest in it at all. It was Jerome who thought it looked too pitiful for the garden to be so barren and filled it with vegetation that would need minimal care during all four seasons. He already understood that it would take a lot of labor and money to revamp the garden.

“Is the budget I set aside for you, not enough?”

Hugo took it upon himself to understand Lucia’s intentions of bringing up this topic.

“Huh?”

She was shocked. She didn’t need more money at all.

“Increasing the budget a significant amount is a bit troublesome. This year’s budget was already drafted and your budget for this year was created by taking away money from the provisional budget. But, I will be sure to consider it next year.”

The overall budget would be decided by the head of the family. Many times, nobles would go out of their way to ensure a specific percentage of the family budget before marriage. If the married couple are in love, it was correct for the wife to receive a heftier amount than the norm. On the other hand, when a man wishes to divorce his wife, the first thing he would do is try to scrape down his wife’s budget as much as he could.

This year’s budget division was already decided upon, so he had set aside the largest amount he could manage with what was left over. He already had plans to increase her allowance budget next year.

Lucia’s allowed monetary budget was not because she was the duchess. Noble wives would not easily reveal their own personal monetary information due to pride, but if they heard how much Lucia received they would have a hard time believing such a story.

“That’s not it. I didn’t bring this up for that reason. There are already a lot of people in the castle. I was afraid if I brought in too many people, you would become irritated. I wanted to make sure … renovating the garden wouldn’t get in your way …”

“Hundreds of people already travel in and out of Roam. It’s not like you will increase the labor force by several thousand folds. It doesn’t matter that you bring in a few more. The garden had always been overlooked by the duchess. It doesn’t matter if you chop down all the trees or make a huge pond. Do as you wish. You don’t need my permission to do such things.”

“… I’m not sure between the things I have total freedom and the things I need permission for. What are the limitations to what I can do?”

Lucia stared at him with confused eyes. At this moment, he lifted her up like a princess and laid her onto the bed. While returning her gaze, he softly supported her chin.

“How far do you want to go?”

This was an opportunity. Lucia wasn’t dense. This was the exact same situation as when a King would ask their bedside partners, ‘What would you like to have?’ for love play.

A satisfied man would become lenient and with a bit of coquettish skill, the female would be able to gain much benefits. Most females behaved in this way.

Hugo waited expectantly, wondering what words would come out from her mouth. Her skills were on another level. Up until now, she had never requested anything from him. He had made up his mind that he would agree to anything as long as it was within his power. It would be best if it was something that could be bought with money. Women who were power hungry were no fun.

“I’m asking you because I don’t know myself. As you’ve seen already … nobody had ever taught me any basics nor have I had an opportunity to learn such things. I don’t know what a duchess should or should not do. I want to learn.”

Lucia had emptied herself of greed from the beginning. No matter how insignificant her greed may appear to be in the beginning, with time that greed would only grow larger. There was no guarantee that she would be showered with wealth the rest of her life just because she was a duchess. As for anything related to money, she didn’t wish for a cent more than what she already had. Additionally, she didn’t have a single interest with political power.

“A teacher …”

He paused while stroking his chin lost in thought for a moment. This was an unexpected request, one that he should have realized and done for her in the beginning. There were no adults in the Taran family who could become her mentor. Additionally, she never had relatives to guild her as a child either. Of course she could not learn.

“I’ll look into it for you.”

“Thank you.”

A bright smile spread upon Lucia’s face. While watching her smile, his own lips unconsciously quirked up. Her smile were always so pure like a child’s. She wasn’t smiling to seduce him, but whenever he saw her smile his lower half would throb with heat. It was the same at this moment.

He tried his best to distract himself with other government related topics,. but he drew a blank in his mind while attempting to refocus. He remembered all the documents in his personal office waiting for him and was finally able to calm down a little. These days, he felt like a wild animal unable to restrain their natural instincts.

He waited for her to continue speaking but only found silence, so he spoke first.

“And?”

“Huh?”

“Anything else?”

Lucia’s eyes grew round, paused for a moment and responded with a negative. He narrowed his eyes slightly while observing her. ‘Was she stupid? Doesn’t she have any greed? Maybe she is just trying to be sly?’

Thus, Hugo could not believe that Lucia truly didn’t wish for anything. Whether the other party was a male or female, many took a step back to advance another three steps.

She looked innocent now, but in a few moments she would be cuddled next to him while chattering her wishes into his ears. Whether it would be related to his powers or money, it was always the case. Up until now, there was nobody he knew who didn’t harbor such intentions.

“Is it very tiresome to renovate the garden?”

“I’m not sure because I haven’t started yet. I won’t be personally planting all the flowers so … it probably won’t be too bad.”

“The garden. Must you renovate it?”

“I thought you didn’t care about the garden.”

“I don’t care about the garden, I’m worried about you. Don’t waste your energy on it. If you have so much energy then you should use it on me.”

As his arms wrapped around her hips, Lucia’s looked down shyly with flushed cheeks.

“… How do you expect me to expend more energy than now? I feel so embarrassed sleeping into the afternoon everyday.”

“What are you embarrassed about? You should be proud.”

“… Why should I be proud?”

“You should be proud of your husband’s stamina -”

Lucia clamped his mouth shut with her hand and glared as her cheeks gradually glowed redder. He retaliated by licking the palm of her hand, causing her to immediately pull back. However, he caught her hand before she could escape and playfully licked her fingers. His tender kisses caused a strange sensation to climb up her shoulders making Lucia shudder.

Incredibly embarrassed, Lucia used all her strength to wiggle out of his grasp, but she couldn’t budge an inch. As if he had the sweetest lollipop in his hand, he lovingly kissed and licked Lucia’s fingers.