YSGD 29

Chapter 29

“Your Highness!”

The one waiting for Xenos in front of the cabin was—perhaps unsurprisingly—the head butler, Karl.

In truth, even he hadn’t been certain that Xenos would be here.

Still half in doubt, Karl brightened involuntarily the moment he saw Xenos stepping out through the gate.

He was a seasoned butler who rarely showed emotion, yet he cared enough for his master to rejoice at this unfamiliar change.

“Grand Duke, did you… sleep?”

Xenos, still wearing a dazed expression, nodded.

He must have slept deeply.

One side of his hair was sticking up, forming a small cowlick like a bird’s nest.

Even that sight filled Karl with overwhelming emotion.

“I searched the entire grand ducal estate, but you were nowhere to be found, so I came here to check.”

Suppressing his moved expression, Karl handed Xenos the cloak and shoes he had been holding neatly in both hands.

And while Xenos put on his shoes, Karl subtly helped straighten his appearance.

With the butler’s practiced touch, the glossy ink-black hair once again fell smoothly into place.

Lost in thought, Xenos adjusted himself only roughly before moving with heavy steps.

Thanks to Karl’s quick thinking, he wouldn’t lose face before the servants, but…

This was the hour when all the servants would be actively working.

There was no way no one had seen the Grand Duke emerging from the cabin.

And with the household already strangely divided into factions over Katarina and Rene…

Xenos’s actions would surely stir up the estate once again.

“I’m truly relieved you don’t seem injured. It was my failure not to prevent this in advance, even though I knew your madness was worsening.”

“How could an old man like you stop a Swordmaster?”

“Haha. True enough. But Your Highness isn’t particularly violent, is he? Unlike the late Grand Duke. That, at least, is a great blessing.”

The butler chuckled warmly even at Xenos’s gruff reply.

Karl’s slightly excited reaction was only natural.

After the contact with the dragon, when Xenos’s madness had improved, no one had been happier than Karl.

And when it worsened again, Karl had been the one most devastated, as if all his efforts had come to nothing.

Xenos finally spoke, his lips reluctant to part.

Perhaps because he had slept so deeply, his mind felt clearer than it had in a long time.

“Did I take the medicine you gave me yesterday?”

“No, Your Highness… I only served you herbal tea said to help with restful sleep. Is it… that you don’t remember?”

“I see. Falling asleep… coming all the way to the cabin… I don’t remember any of it.”

Karl’s expression gradually grew serious.

He had already witnessed his lord suffer through false hope many times.

But even so, he couldn’t simply sit back in fear.

No matter what medicines were brewed, what incense was burned, what treatments were tried—nothing had ever improved the madness.

Hadn’t this illness already claimed Xenos’s father, the previous Grand Duke, once before?

His case had been far worse.

A man gentle in waking hours would transform into a violent madman the moment he fell asleep.

Thus the condition was named “madness.”

In the end, it consumed the late Grand Duke, and his fate was a miserable death.

Xenos’s frail mother, unable to endure the shock, sickened and passed away not long after.

A boy who lost both parents in an instant became Grand Duke, never even realizing his neck was breaking under the weight of that heavy crown.

Karl always found it heartbreaking.

Xenos was not someone who shared his burdens with others.

Instead, he turned inward… deeper and deeper… until he consumed himself.

Karl sometimes felt as though it was all his fault.

Diana, the former Grand Duchess who was away now, likely felt the same.

Those days had been like an unending nightmare.

And yet, at last, they had found a thread—one that had seemed impossible to grasp forever.

Pulling himself back from his brief recollection, Karl steadied his mind.

No matter what, this was clearly good news.

“Do you think Her Grace the Grand Duchess knows something?”

“Well…”

Even as he answered, Xenos’s tone lacked certainty.

Still, he didn’t want to disappoint the butler who looked so hopeful.

After hesitating, Xenos finally spoke the conclusion he had been chewing over.

“…Perhaps holding someone in your arms as you fall asleep is the cure for the madness. Yes. Honestly, I slept extremely well… damn it.”

Naturally, Xenos recalled Rene, purring softly in his embrace as she slept.

A small woman with smooth, shining skin.

Slightly parted pink lips, revealing front teeth like a rabbit’s.

Her hair, fine as spun silver, had scattered everywhere in her sleep, like silver waves.

Rene had clung tightly to him, close enough that he could feel the warmth unique to someone asleep.

“…”

Xenos deliberately lifted his head to look at the sky.

The blazing midday sun seemed to scold him.

Get a grip. This is only a marriage in name. You never expected her to fulfill the role of Grand Duchess anyway.

But…

That peaceful night he had regained was too desperately precious.

“Hah…”

His heart kept tilting in one direction.

“Your Highness, shall I prepare the bedroom?”

Karl asked, sharply perceiving his master’s turmoil.

Xenos remained silent for a long time, then finally nodded.

And as the large man began walking ahead, the tips of his ears were red.

Some time later—

…When did I fall asleep?

No one had woken me, yet my eyes opened naturally.

A gentle breeze blew in, and warm sunlight bathed me.

Chirp chirp. Somewhere far off, I could hear birds singing.

But wait.

This strange peaceful morning… That means I’m a hundred percent late!

“Huh!”

I jolted upright, then suddenly remembered and let myself slump back down.

“Oh, right. I got possessed.”

Deep inside me, the instincts of a grad student—uh, no, a subordinate—were still alive.

The small fact that being late didn’t matter here suddenly made me absurdly happy.

Hehe, I flopped back down and scratched my belly.

Being a legal unemployed person—well, not that it was ever illegal—really was nice!

“Wow. That was legendary sleep.”

I couldn’t remember exactly when I’d fallen asleep, but I definitely slept in.

Outside the window, the sun was already high in the sky.

I slept this late?

I’d been restless these past few days, but normally I could sleep anywhere the moment my head hit the pillow.

And I was naturally a morning person—I always woke up at dawn.

But sleeping until this hour…

Well, this body was weak, and I didn’t really have much to do, so wasn’t it fine?

Maybe last night was just a dream.

I glanced at the empty space beside me, then rolled over.

Yeah, something like that couldn’t possibly be real.

It had been vivid, but still.

Sigh, whatever. Nothing actually happened.

Just as I was lazily sprawled out, a thought suddenly struck me.

“Oh! Wait—today was the day I promised to plant vegetable seedlings with the kids!”

Sleeping in was fine… no, it wasn’t!

Damn it! I’m in the professor position now—how can the one in charge be late?!

As a former grad student, I knew better than anyone how brutally people curse professors in their heads when they’re even a little late.

I sprang up immediately.

I was still in pajamas, but performance mattered first.

I hurriedly opened the front door and ran into Marie, who was hanging laundry.

Surprisingly, the scene was peaceful.

“Madam! Did you sleep well?”

Marie, for some reason, looked quite pleased.

With a miserable face, I said,

“I slept way too late, didn’t I? Sorry!”

“Oh, what does it matter. Hoho! On days like this, sleeping in is only natural… oh my!”

She covered her face as if embarrassed and laughed.

“Huh?”

What is it? Why do I suddenly feel chills looking at that smile?

Marie, the only married woman among the maid group, occasionally threw out spicy married-lady jokes.

“After all, it was your first night not spent alone—no wonder you slept so soundly!”

Like right now!

A terrible premonition sent shivers down my spine.

“Not spent alone…? Wh-what?! What do you mean?!”

“Hohoho. The entire estate is already buzzing with rumors. Don’t play innocent.”

“…What rumors?”

“So what exactly are they saying?”