Chapter :〈010〉
He must have come to his room after washing, still wearing his robe, holding a glass of wine in his hand. When he set the wine glass down by the window, the remaining wine caught the moonlight and sparkled inside the transparent glass.
Seeing Lord Winchester’s hair still damp and not fully dry, I suddenly thought that I would look like that too.
“You’re still awake.”
“The moonlight was nice.”
He tightened his robe around himself as he spoke, and Lord Winchester responded.
“……”
“……”
It was awkward. I didn’t know what to say and couldn’t say anything. Lord Winchester was also silent.
Only an awkward atmosphere filled the room.
I had momentarily forgotten amid the storm that was the wedding. Marriage meant that Lord Winchester and I became husband and wife, and being husband and wife meant sharing a bedroom and a bed.
And sharing a bed meant…
“If you’re tired…”
“Ah!”
Lord Winchester put down his wine glass and moved toward me, but I instinctively stepped back. He stopped right where he was.
“……”
“……”
The air in the room grew even more awkward.
“Let’s lie down on the bed.”
“Huh?”
I turned my eyes toward the bed at Lord Winchester’s suggestion. It was soft and looked very comfortable.
Of course, if I was going to sleep, I should lie on the bed, but a bed’s purpose was not only for sleeping. Especially if it was a couple’s first night.
“Y-yes, I guess I should.”
Hesitating, I stepped closer to the bed. As I lifted my leg to get on, my thigh was exposed through the open slit of my robe.
“Eeek!!”
Startled, I quickly lifted the blanket with my hand and slipped underneath it.
‘Did he see? Did he? What if he did?’
My heart pounded with embarrassment. Trying to guess whether he saw or not, I glanced at Lord Winchester’s expression, but instead, I shut my eyes tightly.
Suddenly, Lord Winchester who had approached me took off his robe with a swift motion.
‘What do I do? What do I do?’
It wasn’t about whether Lord Winchester saw me or not — the problem was that I had just seen Lord Winchester.
In my tightly shut eyes and pitch-dark vision, the afterimage of Lord Winchester’s naked body flickered. It wasn’t a body I could forget by just seeing it briefly.
Even clothed, I had expected this, but his broad shoulders, firm chest, and well-defined abs stood out more under the moonlight. Plus, his arms were thicker than my thighs!
‘Am I crazy? Why do even his scars look cool?’
The pale, moonlit shoulder and the scar near his side looked like accessories emphasizing his masculinity.
I felt Lord Winchester’s presence right beside me, and my heart pounded even harder. My body trembled with nervousness.
‘What should I do?’
Though my eyes were already shut and my vision was dark, I shut them even tighter.
‘What should I do? Should I just stay still? Or should I help somehow? I don’t know anything!’
My head was spinning, swirling even faster than the world around me.
‘Right. Lord Winchester is experienced, so he’ll take the lead. I just have to trust him.’
Thinking that he had already produced a wonderful outcome named Daniel comforted me somewhat. Neither of us were beginners.
‘…But why is it so quiet?’
Not only was it quiet, but the presence I had felt right next to me had vanished.
I raised my head cautiously and glanced around, but I saw nothing. Not even Lord Winchester.
‘What’s going on?’
When I raised my head a little more, I finally saw him. His wild, masculine body was now fully wrapped in the sheet, lying on the opposite side of the bed.
“Lord Winchester?”
His closed eyelids slowly opened, and his deep blue eyes looked quietly at me. As if asking if I had something to say.
“Are… you asleep?”
“……”
He only stared at me. His eyes spoke instead of words: ‘Or not?’ His gaze was as brief as a man’s words.
“Oh, no.”
I shook my head, thinking there was no point in disturbing him.
“I will wait patiently.”
“Pardon?”
Suddenly, his voice cut into my complicated thoughts. Startled, I shifted my gaze from the sheet to him.
“Since it was a sudden wedding, I know you didn’t have enough time to prepare yourself. I will give you as much time as you need.”
Closing his eyes quietly, Lord Winchester murmured in a clear voice. His words read my worries, and my face flushed on its own.
“T-thank you.”
I closed my eyes tightly again.
No matter how much Lord Winchester said that, lying on the same bed as a man in a strange place made it impossible to relax enough to sleep…
“Ha!”
When I opened my eyes, everything was bright.
“Where am I?”
I sat up straight, startled by the unfamiliar ceiling. Looking around, the strange scenery surprised me again.
“Oh… this is the Winchester estate. I got married yesterday, didn’t I?”
For a moment, I panicked thinking I had possessed another novel’s character again, but thankfully, or unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
“When did I fall asleep?”
I clearly remembered Lord Winchester telling me to rest comfortably because he would wait patiently. After that, my memories were hazy.
“I must have passed out from exhaustion.”
That was the only logical conclusion.
“By the way, where’s Lord Winchester?”
The seat next to me was empty. I cautiously touched it — it was very cold. That meant he had gotten up and left quite some time ago.
“Maybe he went for morning training? Or just went to work?”
Lord Winchester was not only a count but also the commander of the royal knights and the swordsmanship teacher of the crown prince. Naturally, he was a busy man. Being one of only three Sword Masters in the empire, that was understandable.
“Well then, I guess I should get up too.”
I stretched and pulled the bell cord.
Although my only title was Countess Winchester, I too had my own busy schedule.
It was one hour and 42 minutes after I summoned her that Mrs. Sionne Ferede, the housekeeper of the Camellia estate, finally entered my room.
“Did you call, milady?”
Yet there was no trace of apology or remorse on her face. Rather, it felt like she was saying, ‘Well, now that I’m here, tell me what you want.’
Her oddly confident attitude irritated me.
‘In a forest without a tiger, the fox is king, huh?’
According to what my mother and sister told me, Lord Winchester’s birth mother was naturally weak. She died giving birth to Lord Winchester’s younger sister. Young Lord Winchester started filling the void left by his mother through swordsmanship.
The widowed Count Winchester remarried and lived a decent life until he passed away about ten years ago. Lord Winchester, having shown great talent and interest in swordsmanship, focused more on sword training than on heir duties and inherited the title at a young age.
Thus, the previous Countess Winchester took over nearly all the family head duties on his behalf, allowing Lord Winchester to concentrate on swordsmanship.
About six or seven years ago, the Winchester countess died. Lord Winchester overcame the grief of losing his last blood relative by devoting himself to swordsmanship.
Two years ago, the former Countess Winchester also passed away, leaving Lord Winchester alone to become the youngest Sword Master.
‘This is like some “level up when surrounding people die” thing.’
That was my thought as I listened to his story. Maybe I wasn’t the only one thinking so, because people called Lorrinus de Winchester—
“The Reaper.”
Officially, the nickname came from his exceptional swordsmanship in war, delivering death to enemies, but people also whispered about the unlucky count who brought death to everyone around him.
The Mrs. Ferede standing before me was a maid brought from her family by the previous Countess Winchester, and her closest confidante. For decades, she had ruled as the top maid of the Camellia estate, and with the mistress’ position vacant for the past two years, the Camellia estate had truly become her domain.
“Is there something you need?”
When I didn’t say anything right away, she spoke again. Perhaps to her, I was an intruder invading her peaceful estate.
But from my perspective, she was the first villain I had to deal with.
