One Hundred Nights with the Devil - Chapter 36

Taking advantage of the opening, Elena took the bundle of keys and tucked them deep into her cleavage. She did it because there was nowhere else to put them, but upon seeing that, the Duke was startled and hurriedly turned his head away. The tips of his exposed ears were burning bright red.

Because that looked a little cute, the corners of Elena’s lips rose slightly.

“Your Grace.”

“……Yes, Miss Elena. Please speak.”

“Why are you giving me the key when you think I will disobey your request?”

The Duke cleared his throat and turned his head back.

“You are not telling me that you won’t disobey the request.”

“You wouldn’t believe me anyway, so is there any reason to say it?”

“That is true.”

The Duke chuckled softly again. It had been that way the whole time. When Elena spoke, he laughed, and when she tried to reply with a joke so as not to be bewitched by that smile, he laughed again.

Without knowing what kind of state her insides were in because of that, the Duke stubbornly pushed his point.

“But if you put the lock on, it will buy time, and during that time, you might think of my request once more before doing something dangerous. That is why I am giving it to you.”

“Then, will you never come again, Your Grace?”

“…….”

“You said the Devil takes over your body from midnight until the sun fully rises. Then, during the day, it should be fine to be together…….”

“Do not open it.”

Instead of answering ‘I will not come,’ he entreated her.

“Miss Elena. Please promise me. Do not permit me under any circumstances.”

Even though he couldn’t even make a promise that he wouldn’t come. Even though he would linger by her side for a long time at this hour, unable to leave, why did he keep begging her to push him away?

She wanted to ask, but the rebellion that flared up subsided as easily as a hollow dream before the Duke’s face. When she nodded quietly, the Duke was visibly relieved.

She hadn’t gotten what she wanted, but she thought this wasn’t bad either.

Was it pity?

She felt like she could be certain if she stayed with him just a little longer.

“I will close the door now. Please step back.”

With the sound of something scraping the floor, the only passage between the main castle and the annex closed. Elena hung the padlock she had been holding under the handle of the closed door. With the only key in her possession, and the Duke, who knew how to pick the lock, left on the other side of the door.

Click.

“Miss Elena.”

After the sound of the mechanism fully engaging stopped, the Duke’s voice was heard from beyond the door. It was a whisper so small that she wouldn’t have heard it if she had turned around immediately after locking the door, or if she had moved even slightly away.

“……I apologize for saying that I resent you.”

Whether he thought Elena had already left, the Duke’s voice revealed raw emotion. Even though the massive door blocked the two of them, it felt as if she could see what kind of expression he was wearing.

“In truth, I was happy that you came. I steeled my heart many times telling myself I shouldn’t feel that way, but because I had been alone for so long…….”

Vows toward himself, and a confession appealing to guilt and fear, followed in a disjointed manner. It would not have been a mistake to think it sounded like a will.

“I will definitely protect you. Since you must be my last chance. This time, I will save you, at least.”

Elena could not bear to listen any longer and ran away. However, before she could even take a few steps, the strength in her legs gave out. She limped like a person who had forgotten how to walk and stumbled like a person who was lost.

“……I will definitely protect you.”

the sincere voice continued until she was far from the door. Even after entering deep into the annex as if shaking it off, his voice followed Elena tenaciously.

‘He’s a strange man. Really, a strange man…….’

Living together from early dawn until evening, Elena had come to know quite a lot about him. Although it was all information unrelated to the task of exorcising the Devil.

His favorite book is a collection of poems published 40 years ago. An Imperial family member who spent half of his twenty-six years of life on the battlefield and is not used to being served.

A selfless nature that preferred looking after gardens over chess, and chess over hunting, so much so that he was actually happy to be exiled to the West.

Even his words of farewell were gentle; he was a difficult person to understand the more she knew him. So, as she thought about the Duke for a long time, the moonlight outside the window had become bright before she knew it. Elena looked out the window and thought.

Was the man who had locked himself in the main castle also looking at that moon? Was he counting down to the approaching midnight?