Secret Wardrobe of the Duchess

Chapter 53

“I can’t sleep after drinking coffee at night.”

“This isn’t coffee.”

He was right. There was a brown and clear liquid in the cup instead of coffee. However, Rubica was still suspicious, so he added,  “I drink it from time to time when I get a headache. It’s good to drink it before sleeping.”

Was it the drink Carl had proudly introduced to her in front of Edgar’s office this morning?

“Tea?”

“Yes, you know it?”

Edgar’s lips curled up again as few people knew well about tea in Seritos.

“Carl told me about it, that’s how I know.”

“I see.”

Rubica thought about it for a moment and carefully took a sip. Then, she frowned and said, “It smells weird, and it’s bitter.”

“No way.”

Had he made a mistake when making it? He quickly drank from his own cup.

“But it smells good and it’s delicious.”

“Not to me.”

Rubica gave him back the cup of tea, and Edgar put it on the table. He was a little sad that Rubica didn’t like his favorite drink.

“You will get used to it if you keep drinking it. Coffee is even bitter than this, but you enjoy it even without sugar. Plus, tea is even more expensive and rarer because it came across the desert.”

Rubica sat down on a chair next to the bed and stared at him with her twinkling eyes. His voice started to get smaller and smaller as she kept staring at him.

It was strange. Her irises were dark. However, the more Edgar looked at them, the more he got to think they shined brightly like two gems. Bum, Bum. His heart started to beat hard again.

He hadn’t had any champagne today. Moreover, his doctor had announced he had no cold at all before he went downstairs for dinner. But then, what was wrong with him? Why was his heart beating so fast? He couldn’t even guess what kind of disease he had.

“Edgar.”

“Yes?”

“It’s one o’clock.”

Edgar had been tense and sighed at hearing what Rubica said. He had promised to leave the bedroom at one o’clock and sleep in the resting room adjacent to his office. Actually, that wasn’t strange to him. He had always slept in his office alone to avoid any accident. But today, for some reason, he couldn’t just make himself stand up and walk away.

“I will leave after seeing you fall asleep.”

Rubica was shocked to hear that.

“I am not sleeping before you go.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you have a conscience? Do you think I can sleep defenselessly in front of you?”

Edgar didn’t even have to drag his conscience before admitting he was guilty. Thinking about it again, he wasn’t sure he would be able to leave Rubica alone when she was sleeping.

Yesterday he had experienced something he had never felt before. As he still didn’t know what had caused it, he couldn’t let himself face a similar situation again.

“Okay. As it is the promised time, I will go. But instead…”

“Instead?”

Edgar sat on the sofa and didn’t talk for some time, and Rubica could feel that he was nervous. What on earth was he trying to say that he was feeling that nervous? Soon, he rubbed his knee a few times with his big hands and determinedly opened his mouth.