Governor's Bride - Chapter 31

Chapter 3 – The Governor’s Scribe

Deertes slowly opened her eyes. The sun shone brightly through the curtains. As she tried to raise her arms to cover her eyes, she found something heavy wrapped around her waist.

“…Urk!”

Luckily, she remembered before she could shout. Deertes quickly shut her mouth and slowly turned her head. As expected, beside her was Lachlan. He was sleeping comfortably and quietly with his eyes closed.

Deertes gently manoeuvred her body. But the hand that was holding her waist had no intention of budging. She ended up having to lift his arm up after fussing about for a bit.

She didn’t know if she was doing it correctly. His dark arms were long and thick. As Lachlan tossed and turned slightly, the movement of his muscles felt foreign and strange to her eyes.

The only means aristocratic women in Ramedes had to see the body of a man were through paintings and sculptures. Should they chance upon commoners taking their tops off, they were to quickly shield their eyes and turn away. That was the expected attitude women should take up.

Once, Deertes had seen a statue at home and had wondered why sculptures of men’s bodies were so exaggerated. None of the noblemen she had seen and met at the Ilandea Hall or at royal banquets had thick muscled arms or broad shoulders, like the sculptures.

The only men that had seemed remotely similar were the soldiers she had seen during the inspection ceremony. Though, even then, she thought they were slightly smaller than the sculpture. As Deertes looked at Lachlan, she could tell the sculpture may not have been an exaggeration.

Carefully, she wrapped his arm with a sheet and lifted it up.

Touching a man first was considered a prostitute’s job in Ramedes. That’s why, when she had first woken up in that state, she refused to move until he woke up. It was only a long time later when Lachlan was slightly roused awake from a servant locking the door, was Deertes able to escape.

Now Deertes gently put his hand aside and stood by the bed.

‘How much longer are you planning to do this?’

For a week now, they have been sleeping together in Deertes’ room.

He would enter after she had fallen asleep, but this was the first time he had entered while she was awake. Deertes hesitated before she stepped back to the corner of the room.

Deertes reaction was like that of facing a predator. Lachlan would change into his pyjamas as soon as he entered and would tell Deertes to do the same and lie in bed else he himself would help her change. That was the fastest Deertes has ever changed and climbed into bed.

Lachlan would then turn off the lights and approach the bed. His weight caused the bed to be imbalanced, causing Deertes’ body to roll towards him. His arm would then reach out and wrap around her waist as he let out a chesty laugh.

‘I can ask for Helen to come back.’

Deertes paused to think before shaking her head. He is a man who cares little about the people in his surroundings. That must be why he said such words in front of Craig.

Suddenly, she felt his breath on her nape. Deertes flinched before she struggled to escape. But his arms held firm, hugging onto her waist. Instead, they pulled her closer to him. Whenever his hands fluttered under her thin pyjamas, Deertes would flinch as if having touched fire. After a long while of struggling, Deertes slowly became tired and had no choice but to just quietly surrender herself to him.

She could feel his hand slowly moving around. Deertes trembled as his hand brushed across her stomach. As it slowly moved up and down, she had to bite her tongue to stop from groaning. Fortunately, that was where Lachlan’s contact ended.

Relief flooded Deertes’ body when Lachlan stopped moving. Moreover, she was surprised by how she acted.

She was starting to get used to Lachlan’s behaviour.

Deertes left the room silently. From where she stood, she could hear the clattering of bowls coming from the first floor. Deertes made her way down to that floor and entered the room through a black door. The room looked the same as when Lachlan had first shown it to her.

He had told her she could make use of everything in the room. In it, was almost everything she could need. From undergarments to different pairs of shoes. Of course, there weren’t any dresses and gowns that are commonly worn in the home country. Instead, clothes that were much lighter and easier to wear were hung up in the closet.

Before she knew it, Deertes got used to changing clothes by herself. Deertes stood in front of a mirror all dressed up. She smoothed down the collar. Its stylish edges are slightly wrinkled. Initially, Deertes didn’t know something as simple as adjusting the collar, so she had to learn that from Helen as well.

She quickly hurried to the kitchen. Helen turned to greet her polished appearance.

“Alanahu, Deertes.”
“Alanahu, Helen.”
Now, Helen no longer calls Deertes with the title of Lady, after Deertes requested so. When Helen had asked Lachlan what she needed to do after she accepted his request, he had told her to do as Deertes wanted.

After briefly greeting each other, Deertes walked to the countertop where breakfast prepared by Helen was placed.

“Thank you for the food, I’ll enjoy it.”

“Finish everything.”

When Deertes turned around to face her, plate in hand, Helen said, “don’t forget.” Deertes turned back, nodding helplessly. She knew what Helen meant by her words. After all, Deertes had always left behind a little unfinished food on her plate.

She moved to the dining room next to the kitchen. Though the building is relatively new, it doesn’t change the fact that it was constructed to host a large number of guests. Hence, the dining room had a table long enough for a banquet.

Sitting at the end of the table, Deertes couldn’t help but lift up her fork helplessly. It was not long after she started getting used to the beginning of the day.

When she woke up in the morning, she showered, changed, and finished her meal alone. During the day, she would do work as she was told right next to Lachlan’s office, and in the afternoon, Deertes would help Helen clean the building.

Until now, Deertes still couldn’t figure out why Lachlan was making her do all of this.

‘He couldn’t have brought me here just to become his maid.’

Deertes mumbled to herself as she chewed on the crunchy vegetables before she got lost in her thoughts again.

No, that definitely isn’t it. Lachlan would always come to see Deertes whenever she was in bed after a whole day of work. He would then pull her to bed and they would end up falling asleep together.
The first day, she couldn’t breathe well, let alone sleep, because of all her nerves. The second day, Deertes had tried enduring until dawn but had ended up falling asleep before the sun had even risen. On the third day, she had fallen asleep before the midnight bell rang. And now, she went to bed even before he did.

Even now, she is still surprised by Lachlan. Maybe, someday, Deertes would stop getting surprised whenever he approaches her and comes on top of her.

As she thought, her hands continued moving steadily and before vegetables on the plate slowly disappeared one by one.

‘How many notes were there today?’

Lachlan’s job for her was to translate his letter and write it down in neat writing. It wasn’t a strange task for her to do. In Ramedes, many people used to put a lot of effort into letters that were used to exchange greetings or for invitations to banquets.

Applying light perfume on high-quality thick paper was fundamental. Using the right beautiful colours for each season. Writing with ink that best matches the paper used. And, of course, the writing on the paper must be elegant and beautiful as well.

As such, scribes are hired and paid very well by nobles. Plus, one secret fact was that Count Russell did not hire a scribe.

Instead, it was Deertes’ job to write her father’s letters and reply to the other nobles. And she liked doing it. After all, it was the only thing she was allowed to do.

Although she wasn’t allowed to do so at the beginning. Count Russell hated the idea of his only two daughters doing things that involve anything other than basic virtues and skills that noble girls should have.

“That’s not your job.”

Time and time again, that was the same stern voice she would hear in reply when she tried to do something. Suddenly, a scribe died in an accident involving a fall. As Deertes listened to her father grumbling about how time-consuming it’d be to hire a new scribe and for them to get used to the system here, she carefully held up the piece of paper she had written on.

When she saw her father’s face instantly harden, she quickly added. “I want to help you until you hire a new scribe.”

So, whenever Count Russell received a letter, Deertes would stick close to his side. Just like the count’s dogs who would leave affectionate kisses. Though when the dogs showed such signs of affection, the count would tell them to stop but did not find them unpleasant.

Eventually, it became a matter that was left for Deertes to handle.

She never thought she would have to do such a task again here.

‘I’m almost certain he didn’t assign this task to me knowingly…’

Deertes’ hand stopped not long after. Helen’s food has always been fresh and delicious. But Deertes always ended up leaving a little unfinished food behind. She stared at the leftover roast meat on the side of her plate.

A body in the midst of recovering always craves food, so it is not because of a lack of appetite. Even so, she couldn’t get herself to reach for the pieces of meat.

When she was in Ramedes, she could only eat a limited amount of meat once a week. Such a rule was put in effect after Deertes had collapsed multiple times and complained about dizziness and a doctor had been called in for advice.

The count always had meat in his meal. Whenever Deertes ate meat, he would always carefully monitor her expression. Perhaps this was why Deertes couldn’t enjoy eating meat. She always felt guilty whenever she ate it.

Creak.

Just as Deertes was about to stand and leave the table after poking around the pieces of meat on the plate and giving up on eating it, she heard the door opening. Turning around, she stood up, surprised.

“You…”

Lachlan stepped into the room with his own plate of food. She wasn’t surprised that it was Lachlan who had entered the room. She was surprised at the fact he entered without clothes on his top half and only pants on.

“Why did you come down here alone without waking me up?”

“…”

“Tomorrow on, wake me up when you do.”

His words seemed to mean that they’d be sleeping together again tonight. Deertes paused, pondering how exactly she should reply. Lachlan moved towards her.

“You didn’t finish them.”

His eyes glanced at the pieces of meat left on her plate.

“Meat isn’t that tasty…”

“No way, you should try that.”

“I know I’m not supposed to be leaving anything behind but…”

Deertes’ words were cut off as his hand gently wrapped around her chin. He turned her face with one hand to face his. With his other hand, he placed his plate down on the table.

“Deertes.”

Lachlan’s thumb and index finger that was holding her chin tightened slightly. Deertes’ lips slightly parted at the pressure. He could see her white teeth through the parting, past her red lips. And her wet tongue.

Lachlan looked at her with a calm smile. Though, on the inside, he was beyond ecstatic.

“Open up.”