Chapter 63
It did not take long for them to arrive at the ducal manor, which was not far from the imperial palace. Just like that day, he carried her out of the carriage. And just like then, he ignored the servants’ greetings.
Thud, thud. The sound of his footsteps echoed quietly through the lobby.
Unlike that time, she pulled his neck tightly. Then she buried her face against the crook of his neck. After breathing in his scent deeply, she murmured in a very small voice.
“Luce…”
At her call, he stopped for a moment as he was climbing the stairs. Then he let out a rough breath and ran up the stairs at tremendous speed.
“W-Wait, Luce!”
He did not seem like the duke who always maintained his dignity. Nor did he seem like the quiet, cold, yet meticulous man she knew. He looked like nothing more than a man acting on instinct.
Throwing the door open, he entered his room and hurried straight into the bedroom. There, Noctis, who had been lying on the bed reading a book, raised his upper body with a smile.
“Welcome back, my family.”
With a flushed face, Lucian strode straight toward the bed where Noctis was. After setting her down beside Noctis, he roughly kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed.
Caught between the two men, Elaria was flustered as she saw them properly at the same time for the first time. They had met before, but it had been dark then, so she had not seen them clearly.
Now the three of them were all on the bed together in the bright bedroom, and she felt both awkward and nervous. Memories of that night slowly surfaced.
At that moment, Noctis, who had been observing the two of them, asked casually,
“Lucian, why are you so excited?”
Then he immediately turned to Elaria and continued,
“Ella, you’re really beautiful today. Ha, I was dying of curiosity.”
Noctis slowly looked her over from head to toe. Soon, a satisfied smile appeared on his face, and he bent his finger and slowly rubbed her cheek.
“Why did you lay her down the moment you came in? Can’t I at least see her standing for a moment?”
“No.”
“What is it? Did something happen?”
Sensing something unusual in Lucian’s mood, Noctis spoke as he started to get off the bed. Before he could, Lucian added,
“Ria was jealous.”
“…What? Did I hear that right?”
“Noctis, Ria got jealous and pushed another woman away.”
“Haha!”
Suddenly bursting into laughter, Noctis closed the distance in an instant, bringing his face close to hers as he asked,
“You were really jealous?”
“No, it’s just…”
“You’ve never shown anything like that before, so why the sudden change?”
Being stared at by identical faces at the same time was extremely overwhelming. Seeing the two of them together like this was more shocking than she had imagined. She slowly straightened her upper body.
Then she looked silently at the two men who were watching her, one after the other. At a glance, the two were indistinguishable. Only their eye color differed, and even their build and scent were the same.
At the moment, Noctis was not wearing lenses, so his original eye color was visible. If even their eye color had been the same, she might have been even more shaken.
“Ria, what’s wrong.”
Lucian, who quickly noticed the change in her mood, asked carefully. Especially since he had already seen a new side of her at the banquet today.
“…I want to wash.”
Elaria wanted to leave this place for now. She needed some time. Time to steady herself so that seeing them together would not trouble her.
“No.”
At Lucian’s refusal, she looked at him with a displeased expression.
“Wow. This is really strange.”
Noctis muttered as he watched from the side. He did not take his eyes off her as she showed her emotions. The persistent gazes of the two men suddenly felt burdensome, and she tried to rise without answering.
Lucian stopped her.
“Say it.”
“…Say what?”
“What’s in your head.”
“Is that important?”
“I’m always curious.”
“……”
She felt like she understood their thoughts a little now. They always wanted her to tell them. A small surge of irritation rose within her. The ones hiding something should be the ones to reveal it first, so why did she have to be the one to notice? And why was she the only one expected to tell all her secrets?
After they had hidden their secret from her for so long, a stubborn impulse rose within her, wanting to keep her own secret as well.
Since learning their secret, anxiety would surface from time to time. What if there was an even bigger secret? And if there was, could she truly bear it alone?
And sometimes, she even felt a faint sense of betrayal toward them for hiding things for so long. If it were anyone else, that would be one thing, but couldn’t they have told her at least a little?
She did not even expect them to explain everything in detail. She only wished they could at least give her a hint that there was a secret they would tell her someday.
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