Angelus Carduus

Chapter 15: Sleep On The Same Bed

The day after tomorrow, Valeria and Aelius left the dukedom to the Empire. When she told Keith and Myra she was leaving for a week, surprisingly they were lenient about it and instead made her bring tons of vitamins and medications with her on the trip.

Myra was the only one able to follow her since she was her personal maid while Keith was merely a doctor for the duchy so without any reasonable excuse, he wasn't allowed to follow.

The trip to the Empire took about a day or two and since they left around breakfast, they arrived at night on the second day.

Throughout the trip using a comfortable carriage, Aelius would ask the coachman to take a short break before continuing once more and during those breaks Myra would secretly give the supplements Valeria had to eat.

Occasionally Valeria wondered if Aelius actually knew the fact she was sick but just never brought it up as he would often glance over at her but look away after that.

Valeria got out of the carriage and looked up at the large estate in front of her. It was the duke's estate in the Empire where he would stay when he had business here. Aelius chatted a bit with the head butler of the estate before turning to Valeria who didn't move, standing frozen at the same spot.

"Wife," he called out, extending his hand towards her in a polite manner.

She returned her gaze from the estate to his extended hand. Leisurely, she placed her hand in his, accepting his gesture as they proceeded to walk inside, hand in hand. The servants who kept their heads bowed, shifting their eyes left and right when they noticed what was happening in front of them.

The duchess is with the duke? Here in the Empire? This is the first time they have ever seen the duchess since her and the duke got married three years ago!

When they were inside the house, the head butler called all the servants together and spoke calmly and dignified, "As you all know, this is the first time the duchess has ever come here."

"Yes head!" they responded lively.

The head butler nodded and smiled, "We must do our very best to let madam have the best time in the royal capital and in the estate!!"

"Yes!!"

Valeria felt shivers down her spine. She straightened her back and immediately thought it was her just being cold. After having a light dinner with Aelius, she took a bath that was prepared by those enthusiastic maids in the estate.

"They even poured some kind of essential oil inside." she commented, taking a light whiff of herself.

She opened the door to her room that the servants have told her. The biggest door in this corridor. Valeria didn't think too much of it as her brain was close to shutting down just by thinking of the soft bed after sitting in a carriage the whole day.

"...Wife?"

"What?"

Valeria quickly turned to the voice. Aelius was sitting on the single seat sofa, looking at her with a stunned look. Valeria returned the same look at him before realising her mistake.

"The servants must have assumed we slept together." Valeria calmly spoke once she understood the situation at hand.

Aelius then understood what she meant almost instantly, he placed the papers he had been holding before she came in down and lightly coughed, his eyes looking down to the floor.

"I shall sleep in another room instead. You can sleep here, wife." Aelilus gestured towards the bed and began taking his belongings which were mostly just the scattered documents around the room.

Though Valeria wanted to simply accept his offer, she felt a bit guilty as it looked like she had kicked him out of his own room. He usually stayed in this room whenever he had to come to the royal capital so it was wrong of her to suddenly make him change rooms. She didn't want to burden him even more.

She walked over to him, tapping his shoulder to gain his attention.

"It's fine, I will sleep somewhere else." Valeria declined and was about to leave the room when her arm was caught by him.

She turned to him, blankly staring at the hand holding her arm.

"Wife it's alright, you can sleep here." he tried again but Valeria shook her head.

"It's okay."

"But wife, this is one of the best beds to sleep on so you should have it." he said, not giving up.

'As long as it's a good bed does it really matter?'

Seeing that Aelius wouldn't give up unless she accepted to stay in this room, she decided on a simple solution.

"Then I'll only sleep here if you do as well."

Aelius' eyes widened, baffled by her suggestion. This was the first time she had ever suggested that they should sleep together.

Valeria wasn't paying attention to his expression as she wandered off in her thoughts.

'This should be fine. We are husband and wife, sleeping together on the same bed once in a while isn't wrong plus the servants here already assume we sleep together.'

'Yes, it should be fine.'

Valeria nodded to herself before walking over to the right bedside, sliding inside the covers, making herself comfortable. She then looked up to Aelius who was still standing, processing everything happening.

She raised an eyebrow, "Are you not going to sleep?" then she eyed on the documents in his hands.

"Maybe he's gonna work again but at this hour? That's literally going to kill his health slowly." she mumbled, shaking her head.

'Well if he comes to the bed, he comes. Not my problem now.'

Valeria let out a small yawn, blinking her eyes as she grew sleepier, the pillow was so soft it was almost calling for her. Not long, she was fast asleep, her breathing steady and calm.

Aelius snapped back and cast a glance at Valeria who was sleeping comfortably on the bed. He looked left and right then at his papers he was holding before placing it back down at its original spot.

He stiffly walked over to the bed like a robot before standing at the edge of the bed, debating whether or not he should sleep on the same bed.

'I did this before, I can do it again.'

Aelius finally got into bed after a silent debate with himself, leaving a huge gap of space between the two of them. Seeing that both of them would never touch each other with this amount of space, he heaved a relief sigh and tried to sleep.

"Ngh.." Valeria turned over, her body now facing Aelius.

He went as stiff as a block of steel, his breath caught in his throat and his muscles all tensing up. He gaped at Valeria, his mind going frenzied.

He slept on the same bed with Valeria before and he could easily fall asleep without another thought yet this time was different. His eyes laid on her face.

No frown or wrinkles on her face, just a calm serene look as she slept. She looked extremely peaceful as she slept that he couldn't take his eyes off her. Upon taking a closer look, Aelius could see how long her eyelashes were until he felt like he was able to count each strand.

When he realised he had been staring at her for some time, he closed his eyes shut, telling himself to fall asleep repeatedly.

By the time he was about to fall asleep, he heard birds chirping outside the window. His eyes opened wide, dark bags under his eyes to show that he didn't get a wink of sleep. He took a short glance at Valeria who was fast asleep all this while.

Aelius carefully got out of bed, not wanting to wake her up and went to wash himself up to stay awake before heading to his office to get some work done.