Angelus Carduus

Chapter 35: Sweaty Hands

Valeria hurriedly left her room for Keith's office. She knocked on the door before walking inside. She noticed Keith was buried in a pile of books all over his desk.

"Keith." she called out.

He jumped in his seat before clumsily getting up from his chair.

"Y-Your Grace! Are you here for the check-up?"

She nodded in response and lied on the bed. She could hear a small ruckus Keith was making before the check-up began.

Of course, as usual, everything seemed fine on the outside but on the inside, it was a mess.

Keith finished the check-up with a heavy sigh. As he cleaned up his tools, Valeria glanced over the office.

"Messy."

"I'm sorry, Your Grace?" Keith stopped what he was doing and turned towards her.

She looked back at Keith and flatly repeated, "Your office is messy."

Keith blinked at her, "Oh."

Valeria stood up and shook her head, unable to take it anymore, "How do you live like this? There are papers and books everywhere, you are going to trip. And look,"

She pointed over at the stack of books that look like they were going to topple any minute, "Someone can get hurt from this."

"Yes, Your Grace.." Keith nodded, looking at the floor.

He never thought there would be a day he would suddenly get lectured about his office.

"Starting from the right side put the books you don't use back on the shelves. I'll clean this side."

"Eh!? Your Grace, you don't need to-"

"I basically have to come here daily, I might as well do this." she cut him off and began picking up every piece of paper and document on the floor.

Keith obeyed her commands and began cleaning up all the books that were spread around messily on the ground.

It was around afternoon that the office finally looked cleaner than previously. Valeria nodded in approval before taking her leave.

Keith quickly dusted his coat, hurriedly walking over to her, "Wait Your Grace, let me see you out!"

She shook her head, "No need, I shouldn't bother you any longer."

"Wait!-" Keith tried to head over to her side when he felt something under his foot.

It was a thick book on the floor which they had missed whilst cleaning the office. Valeria heard a light yelp coming from Keith so, she turned around to see what happened.

Her eyes widened when she saw Keith's incoming body about to crash into her. She wasn't able to dodge in time as her reflexes weren't quick enough. She fell to the ground, her head and back stinging in pain as it came in contact with the ground but Keith had his hand around her head so the impact wasn't severe.

Valeria opened her eyes which she had closed due to reflexes and saw Keith above her. The two stared at one another, shocked by the outcome and position they were in.

"..Please get off me," Valeria spoke as she was the first one to come back to her senses.

Keith furiously nodded, "Y-yes Your Grace!"

Just as Keith said that the door to the office was knocked before it opened, revealing Lucius who had stacks of papers in his arms.

"Is everything alright? I heard a loud thud sound." Lucius spoke, poking his head to the side to get a better look.

He stopped his words once his eyes fell onto both Keith and Valeria.

'Oh no.' she thought to herself.

Lucius' eyes nearly fell out of its sockets and the papers fell to the ground, scattering everywhere.

'Oh my god, what did I just run into!? The doctor and duchess in such a position?! No no it could perhaps be nothing. Yes, definitely nothing of the sort. But why was the doctor on top of the duchess!? And his clothes are all messy! Oh dear oh god what do I say or do in such a situation like this!!!'

Valeria could see Lucius panicking due to the weird positions he was making every now and then.

She patted Keith on the shoulder who understood her signal and quickly moved away from her. She dusted her dress and cleared her throat.

"Lucius." she called out.

Lucius visibly jumped before nodding frantically, "Yes duchess?!"

Valeria walked up towards him and stood right in front of him. She then looked at him dead in the eye before saying,

"Do not get the wrong idea."

Lucius could feel his back soaked with cold sweat. The duchess was extremely frightening right now!

He nodded, speedily picking up every paper he had dropped before heading towards the door,

"Yes duchess!! I'll leave now!" he spoke, his voice nearly cracking.

Valeria watched as Lucius ran off like a frightened rabbit. She turned to Keith and showed him a thumbs up.

Keith stood there, utterly speechless. Was she showing him if anything bad happens again, she will cut his neck?

He shook his head as he knew she would never do such a thing.

'I must just be paranoid.' he thought to himself but silently made a mental note to keep his office clean from now on so this will never happen again.

She then left the office as well, heading back to her room to get ready for the afternoon tea time with Aelius.

"Myra," Valeria called out once she arrived in her room.

Myra was still cleaning when she returned back. She looked up at Valeria,

"Yes, Your Grace? Is something the matter?"

Valeria looked down at the dress she wore for the day before quietly asking, "...Should I change?"

"Pardon..?" Myra blinked, taking a short while to process her words.

Valeria pointed at her dress, "Is this good enough?"

Myra stared at her, nodding in confusion, "Yes, Your Grace? The dress is very beautiful and suits your skin."

"Oh. Alright then."

Valeria grabbed her medication and swallowed them down before proceeding to leave her room once more, leaving Myra in the dust. She stared at the door, still puzzled by the duchess antics.

Valeria slowly walked towards the gazebo in the garden, where she and Aelius would be having tea for today. Whilst she continued to walk to the location, she could feel her hands somewhat being a little sweaty.

She frowned, clearly in discomfort by the feeling of sweaty palms and wiped it away on the sides of her skirt. It didn't go away. The feeling of sweat on her hands grew even more obvious once the gazebo was visible in her sight.

'Stupid hands.' she grumbled to herself, silently wiping them away again.

When she reached the gazebo, everything was already set in place. The table was filled with different types of sweets and two teacups situated on opposite ends of the round table.

She glanced around to find nobody around her which meant she was the only one. She let out a small exhale and took a seat. She dusted her skirt and placed all her attention on the desserts placed out beautifully.

"...Scones..tarts..madeleines...ah there are also cookies.." Valeria quietly began listing out the desserts she recognised.

There were a few she had never seen before. She stared at those for a little too long until she heard footsteps against the grass.

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Author's note: The last update was in September oh my gosh,,, also don't worry i haven't dropped this book so it isn't discontinued! just been having a hard time writing （（（・×・；）））