My Favorite Smut Author Is My Husband! - Chapter 25
“… How do you know that?”
“I can tell just by the devious look on your face while you’re at work. Even so, since you’re usually so strict about official matters, and seeing your eyes practically flipped back like that, it seems you were planning to jump her again tonight. But try to restrain yourself. No, give it a few more days even—allow the Duchess some time to adjust.”
Following that advice, every night, Ashulin would slap his own thighs, head to the training grounds, and wield his sword to try to forget the softness of Lily’s skin.
“Of course, if you’re just looking for the thrill of stripping down an innocent wife, then—”
“…Put away your sword, Duke. I apologize.”
Ashulin would have already cut him down if not for the fact that it was the Crown Prince. Yet, he took the initial advice seriously, despite the banter that followed.
Lily had been so shocked and cried on their wedding night, and since then, he’d tried to be restrained, even attempting to take her in his study rather than the bedroom. He began to worry that she might fear the act of making love itself… and, perhaps, even him.
But if this restraint was being seen as “neglect,” he knew he was clearly missing something.
*Knock, knock.*
“Lily. It’s me.”
Despite the late hour, Ashulin couldn’t bear to let this misunderstanding go on any longer, especially with the butler’s prompting in his mind. Wiping the cold sweat from his hands, he arrived at Lily’s room.
It seemed she had been in the middle of something, as he heard a rustling sound followed by the light, quick steps of her feet. That sound alone seemed to tickle his heart.
*Slam.*
“Ashulin! You’re home late.”
But the moment his gaze met her lovely sky-blue eyes, and her small lips parted to speak, that fluttering feeling in his chest fell straight to his feet. Although she was merely stating the truth, to Ashulin, it sounded like a rebuke, as if she were asking, “Why are you just getting here now?”
“I apologize, my wife. I heard you had dinner alone. I don’t know how I can make it up to you.”
“Pardon?”
Lily, who had been a bit excited at Ashulin’s unexpected evening visit, was now utterly confused. An apology at this hour? Was being delayed due to work really something that warranted such a grave apology?
“It’s alright, Ashulin. Why are you apologizing to me?”
“My wife.”
“More importantly, you look tired. Are you alright? Shouldn’t you be resting in your room…?”
Lily, unaware of his difficulty with their honeymoon and merely interpreting his expression as fatigue, rolled over his heart once again with her words.
‘Is apologizing all he’s got? Just go to your room since you’re late!’ is what he imagined she might be thinking, so with a deeply somber expression, he bowed his head one more time, pleading.
“Lily, I’m truly sorry. What can I do to ease your mind, even a little?”
Receiving another apology only left Lily feeling even more flustered. Although there was a valid reason for his lateness, he was apologizing this much. She resolved to make sure that if she ever had to go out, she would be home before dinner, swallowing a sigh as she grasped his large hand and gently pulled him into the room.
“My heart was already at ease the moment I saw you, Ashulin. Don’t just stand at the door—come in.”
Would he overlook it just once if she ever misjudged her timing and came home late? Hiding her mischievous thoughts, Lily led Ashulin into the room and over to the table.
Entranced, Ashulin let himself be guided by her soft, pale hands as pure as her heart, instinctively giving her a puppy-eyed look as he sat.
“Lily, I am only grateful for your boundless kindness.”
“Are you planning to keep apologizing all night?”
To some, his intensely striking features might look intimidating, yet here he was, like a well-trained Doberman with drooping ears. Lily couldn’t help but laugh.
Come to think of it, he had looked like a tame dog when he knelt down and gazed up at her while they were out shopping for chemises…
“Lily?”
“Oh, yes! Shall we, um, have some tea? It’s late, so something that won’t disturb sleep would be best.”
Caught in her own thoughts, Lily gave a small start, shrugging her shoulders, and quickly called for a servant.
Ashulin, watching her reaction, assumed that she had stiffened, perhaps expecting his late-night visit to mean he was there for more… intimate reasons. Trying to keep as calm as possible, he took a sip of the chamomile tea the servants had brought.
“Sitting here like this reminds me of the first time we met.”
“Cough!”
For a moment, the cozy silence was shattered by Lily’s words, and he barely managed to avoid spilling or spitting out his tea. Remembering how he had almost drenched her in tea when they first met gave him a bit of cold sweat.
“It hasn’t even been that long, yet here we are, married and sharing tea. Isn’t it strange?”
“It is.”
“You may not think much of it, but there are still mornings when I wake up and am surprised by the fact that I’m married. I really should hurry and become a lady worthy of the Duke’s household.”
“I don’t think that at all, Lily.”
In truth, Ashulin hadn’t thought the same about either of Lily’s comments. For him, this reality was anything but “strange” because, from the very moment he’d first seen her, he’d felt he couldn’t live without making her his. He was fortunate that she shared his feelings and had agreed to marry him, but if she hadn’t, he feared what he might have done.
“Maybe… it feels that way because nothing’s changed much since I was a young lady, except the house I live in.”
As Ashulin silently gave thanks for the blessed reality that had allowed him to win her heart without resorting to desperate measures, Lily subtly altered a line from a novel by the author “K.” Her words were meant both to hint that she knew his true nature and to suggest the absence of their burning nighttime passion, unlike her innocent days.
***
