After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 90

Leo thought with a hollow expression.

‘So it seems I ended up telling her after all.’

There was no need to ask who she’d heard it from. It was undoubtedly the work of that bastard, Dex Hanover.

Holding his silent hand, Ayla spoke again with firm conviction.

“So you should sleep more. Getting proper rest will help your recovery.”

“…Ayla.”

“No matter what you say, I’m not leaving. I’ll stay by your side all night, so don’t even think about sending me away.”

Her bright, defiant demeanor was absurd.

Staying by my side all night? What does she think I’m going to do?

“Then get on the bed.”

“…What?”

To her, who seemed to doubt her own ears, he gestured with his eyes toward the space beside him.

“I can’t just lie down comfortably and sleep alone.”

“Well! I-I’m fine with it.”

“I’m not fine with it.”

Leo stared directly at Ayla’s clearly flustered face and closed his mouth.

Her blue eyes wavered with conflict. The moment she hesitated and began to rise, Leo adjusted his grip on her hand and pulled her toward him in one swift motion.

“Eek!”

Caught off guard by the unexpected force, Ayla tumbled into him.

Her slender, soft body collided with his chest. Leo sat up without hesitation and wrapped one arm around her waist. Lifting her and laying her on the bed was nothing to him.

“L-Leo!”

Ayla, whose world had flipped in an instant, looked up at him with a bewildered expression.

Her trembling breath lodged in his ear.

Leo looked down at Ayla, still holding her in the position he’d placed her on the bed.

Her wide eyes and stiff face. Above them, her thick eyelashes fluttered rapidly, like butterflies beating their delicate wings.

The faint tremor transmitted through his arm beneath her waist roughly stimulated his nerves.

‘I’m going crazy.’

He wanted to steal those tempting lips right then and there. But now wasn’t the time, when he didn’t even know how she felt about him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t touch you.”

He tried to speak as gently as possible, but the voice that came out was excessively low and rough.

Even he was taken aback by it. Leo let out a small sigh and lay his previously bent body down on the bed.

Then, as if resigning himself, he pulled her into his embrace.

He thought that would be enough. No, he lied to himself and opened his lips.

“Just sleep.”

Leo tightly shut his eyes and swallowed a moan as his senses, contrary to his will, grew increasingly sensitive.

Her breathing brushed against his ear, her exhalations heating one side of his chest.

Where their skin touched, the soft sensation was vivid, and her scent was maddeningly sweet.

“…Have pleasant dreams.”

Just when he thought he might go insane, he felt Ayla relax slightly in his embrace.

Her breathing loosened a bit, and her stiff body gradually softened. And then suddenly, her arm carefully wrapped around his waist. It was a very small movement, but he could feel it clearly.

His already rapidly beating heart began to race even more.

So much so that he worried he should hold his breath, afraid she might hear the sound of his heart.

‘This makes it hard to resist.’

Leo gritted his teeth.

It felt dangerous if he didn’t forcibly keep a grip on his sanity.

By the time he had spent a while suppressing the rising desire, breaking out in a cold sweat, her breathing had evened out.

“…Hah.”

The moment he realized she had fallen asleep, a feeling of exhaustion washed over him.

‘I look like a damn dog in heat.’

Feeling self-disgust, Leo wiped his face with one arm and looked down at her with an unreadable expression.

“How cruel.’

How could she fall asleep so quickly? Am I even a man to her?

‘What a carefree woman.’

Leo smiled bitterly and let out a long sigh.

His heart was in turmoil.

The next day.

Ayla woke up in Leo’s arms.

After gazing at him sleeping soundly for a while, Ayla carefully got up. Worried he might wake, she held her breath, covered him with the blanket, and stepped out of the room.

“Since His Highness regained consciousness last night, shall I inform the physician?”

“Really? Understood, My Lady.”

When she spoke to a passing attendant, a look of relief spread across the attendant’s face.

During the two days Leo was unconscious, employees dispatched from Lucas’s estate had been caring for the Grand Duchy. Watching the attendant hurry off to the physician, Ayla turned her steps toward the room assigned to her.

Then she entered the bathroom to wash up, but upon seeing her reflection in the mirror, she gasped and muttered.

“Good heavens. What is this?”

Having not properly washed or slept for two days, she looked a mess.

Her tired face and disheveled hair. She couldn’t believe she had slept beside Leo in this state and let out a sigh.

‘At least it was dark, thank goodness.’

It was a relief she could leave the room before he woke up.

Quickly sinking into the bathtub, Ayla kept only her face above the water and recalled the previous night.

“Then get on the bed.”

It wasn’t the first time she’d shared a bed with him, but her heart had raced unusually hard.

Whether it was the first night they spent together or the night they shared a room at the docks, she had always been the one to approach first.

But last night was different.

He pulled her, who was hesitating, onto the bed, and then just held her and fell asleep.

His embrace, which she had experienced numerous times, was always reliable and warm.

When she, hesitating, mustered the courage to wrap her arm around his waist, she thought her heart would burst.

“…Am I not attractive?”

Of course, it wasn’t a thought to have about someone who had just woken up after two days, but she felt a bit hurt that he told her to just sleep while having her right beside him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t touch you.”

Those words also lingered uncomfortably in her mind.

Clearly, on their first night together, he had made demands tirelessly.

But since then, he hadn’t shown even a hint of such desire, which made her feel both resentful and worried.

Was she not attractive to him as a woman? A sense of unease raised its head.

“…This isn’t the time for such thoughts, you fool.”

Ayla grumbled and leaned her head back against the bathtub.

The image of Leo’s pale, bloodless face when he was unconscious and collapsed came to mind.

‘How lonely he must have been?’

Just imagining his life, unable to sleep alone in the nights when everyone else was asleep, made her chest ache.

‘The fact that he can sleep when he’s touching me. I’m truly grateful.’

If she hadn’t known, it would have been one thing, but now that she knew, she didn’t want him to spend another lonely night ever again.

“From now on, I must stick by his side at night without fail.”

Ayla closed her eyes, solidifying her new resolution.

The hot water was melting away the fatigue of the past two days.

After finishing her shower, Ayla blinked for a moment at the dress hanging in her room.

Somehow knowing she was washing up, Head Maid Chloe, dispatched from the Count’s residence, was waiting for her.

“It’s a dress we prepared upon hearing the Lady of the North would be visiting. How is it?”

“Ah! It’s pretty.”

“I’m glad you like it. We received your measurements from the butler of the townhouse and ordered the garment, so it should fit you well. Before you change, let me take care of your hair first.”

Chloe, connected to the House of Lucas by a collateral branch, was a Baroness, a kindly middle-aged woman.

She gently guided Ayla to the vanity and skillfully began styling her hair.

After finishing her hair, Chloe adeptly helped her into the prepared outfit.

It was a dress that conveyed dignity rather than extravagance.

The deep purple velvet material softly covering her shoulders seemed like it would block the somewhat chilly cold. The silver embroidery around the neck was delicately stitched in snowflake and ice crystal patterns, and the inside of the long sleeves, which reached to her wrists, was lined with soft white fur, adding warmth with every movement of her hands.

“My, you suit Northern attire as well. Is there any part you feel is lacking?”

At Chloe’s kind question, asked with a beaming smile, Ayla shook her head with an awkward smile.

“It’s more than enough. Thank you, Madam.”

“Calling me Chloe is sufficient, My Lady.”

“Alright, Chloe. Has His Highness woken up?”

“Yes. By now, Callisto, the physician should be with him. Would you like to go see him?”

He’s already awake.

Hiding her urgency, Ayla nodded.

“Sorry, but could you ask the kitchen to prepare his meal? Since he just woke up after two days, please request soft foods that are easy to swallow.”

“Of course, My Lady. Shall we have the meal brought to his room?”

“Yes. Thank you, Chloe.”

“Not at all, My Lady.”

After leaving the room with Chloe, Ayla headed toward the room where Leo would be.

The unfamiliar texture of the newly worn dress and the unfamiliar corridor made her heart flutter.

Support