The Full Story of an Incomplete Divorce - Chapter 46 - Epilogue - II

`EPILOGUE - II`

“Congratulations once again. A daughter who looks just like both of you—once she grows up, she will be praised as the jewel of the empire.”
“Charlotte, let’s see each other again soon.”
“It was an honour to meet you, Your Grace. Regarding the business matter we briefly discussed earlier, if the opportunity arises later…”
After the gathering, the Duke and Duchess of Valentin exchanged farewells with their guests. Telling Charlotte to rest upstairs as she must be tired, Lucius stayed behind to personally see the guests out to the front entrance. After seeing off the last remaining guest, Lucius glanced up at the darkening sky before turning away.
Once inside the manor, he loosened the tie that had been stiflingly tight around his neck all day.
Being surrounded by crowds was still uncomfortable, but since resolving to change for Charlotte, Lucius had often attended gatherings with her. Above all, watching her enjoy cheerful conversations with acquaintances from beside her made his own mood lift so much that he was willing to gladly endure the discomfort.
The familiar quiet returned to the manor now that all the guests had left. His footsteps, crossing the central hall laid with smooth marble and ascending the stairs, came to a stop before the crib.
The moment he saw the angelic face of his daughter Yulia, sleeping soundly and oblivious to the world in her soft crib, his fatigue melted away like snow, replaced by an overwhelming happiness. Her long eyelashes, round nose, and plump lips that kept puckering as if she were dreaming—Lucius was simply in awe of this tiny lifeform that was the very image of himself and Charlotte.
After listening quietly for a long while to her soft, even breaths, Lucius softened his footsteps to avoid waking Yulia and headed to the master bedroom.
Thanks to the scented candles lit around the room, the bedroom was filled with a subtle aromatic fragrance. A maid who had been arranging massage tools quickly bowed her head and made herself scarce upon Lucius’s entry.
“You’re here?”
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, Charlotte. Seeing the guests off took longer than expected.”
“Seeing off the guests? Until this hour?”
Charlotte sat up in bed and narrowed her eyes slightly.
“You weren’t by any chance watching our daughter sleep instead, were you?”
At the sight of Lucius pressing his lips together without denying it, Charlotte let out an amused laugh with an expression that said he was hopeless. Truthfully, a delay of thirty or forty minutes like today was nothing. There had even been times when he would stand motionless for four or five hours at a time by the crib, as if rooted to the spot, under the pretense of watching over the sleeping Yulia.
In the meantime, Lucius had washed his hands clean in a basin of warm water and approached the bed. Scooping an appropriate amount of lavender oil into his hands, he began massaging Charlotte’s neck and shoulders with skilled movements. Initially started to help Charlotte, who was suffering from post-natal swelling, the massage had, before they knew it, become one of Lucius’s important daily routines.
“You must be tired too from receiving guests all day today…”
“It’s fine. I’m doing it because I want to.”
Even with his duties as the family head keeping him busy, he insisted on doing this cumbersome task himself. Charlotte had tried to dissuade him several times, saying a maid could do it just as well, but each time Lucius adamantly refused and insisted on giving the massage himself. He had even called in an expert to learn how to perform it perfectly.

Relieving Charlotte’s fatigue and satisfying her was also the time when Lucius felt his greatest joy and fulfillment of the day. There was no way he would let anyone else take away such precious time. In the face of his stubborn insistence, Charlotte eventually gave up on dissuading him and quietly surrendered her body.

“Haa…”

Charlotte closed her eyes as his gentle hands slowly moved up from her calves to her thighs. Her husband’s touch, which knew her body better than she did, always left her defenseless. As her tight muscles loosened and her whole body grew languid, a satisfied moan escaped her lips.