He’s My Real Brother, Duke Chapter 172 - Side Story 7 - What will the Baby look like?
Knox has been closed off and lonely in the Duchy for too long.
Perhaps if Knox and I were to have a little child together, it would make him happier, me happier, Rune happier, and Knox happier…
‘A child, perhaps in the distant future.’
With that, I tied the knot and drank my tea. The tea was warm and sweet today.
Then Knox turned to me and asked, “Let’s talk about something else, then. Astel, would you like to go to the opera this evening?”
“Huh?”
“I got some good tickets.”
“Oh!”
Oh, I know what this means.
It’s a date request. I gave a soft smile and nodded.
“…Brother, can we go to the opera for a while?”
My brother glances at me and Knox, unsure. But he didn’t stop us from going on our date anymore.
He just shrugged his shoulders and mumbled something in a low voice.
“You should come home early.”
From that alone, I could tell that my brother and Knox had grown closer.
“Yeah!”
I grinned and stared at the opera house tickets Knox had handed me.
Seven o’clock this evening.
Sunset, Knox, and I were alone at the opera, 【Queen of the Night】 My heart raced at the long-awaited date.
💫
A few hours later.
Unlike the ambitious way I left the mansion, I was dozing in a box seat at the opera house.
The opera, based on The Queen of the Night, was more boring than I expected.
I tried to lift my heavy eyelids straight up, but before I knew it, I had fallen asleep leaning against Knox’s shoulder.
After dozing off and finally waking up exactly three times, Knox groaned at me.
“Shall we go outside?
“Mmm…”
The soprano’s aria was singing beautifully, but Knox didn’t seem to care.
Instead, Knox simply smiled.
‘With all due respect to the opera singers who have worked so hard to prepare for their performance, wouldn’t it be rude to keep screwing around here?’
Quickly rationalizing, I nodded and squeezed his hand slightly.
“Okay, but I don’t want to leave so soon.”
The corners of his mouth, always soft, turned up lovingly.
“I understand.”
“And?”
“…Well, originally, there was somewhere I wanted to go with you.”
“Far from here?”
“Right next door.”
The place he took my hand, and we headed toward was a small cottage near the opera house.
I let out a short gasp as we walked through the spindly coniferous trees and into the warm brick house, which was surrounded by an entire forest.
“This is exactly the kind of cottage that woodland fairies would live in.”
He blushed shyly, his cheeks tingling with embarrassment at my comment, which was probably due to the beauty of the surroundings.
“So I’ll give it to Astel.”
As soon as I heard that, I suddenly felt incredibly abashed.
‘Doesn’t that mean I’m a fairy?’
I didn’t have the strength to take the beam out of his eye, nor did I want to.
So, I just took his hand in mine and whispered, “Well… maybe.”
The night air was cold, as was my husband’s shadow. But the warmth of his hand in mine made it less chilly.
The cottage was already warm and cozy, thanks to the careful maintenance of the cottage keeper.
We walked into the living room, which was well laid out with cozy rugs and a crackling fireplace.
I flopped down on the plush cushions and leaned my head against Knox’s beside me.
“Oh, I don’t want to go home.”
Knox whispered, “We have to go, brother, he won’t be comfortable.”
But, man, this feels good. I was feeling pretty encouraged by our date. The new event, instead of a boring opera, was energizing.
“But I want to stay with Knox tonight.”
“If you keep this up, I might not be able to let you go…”
I chuckled and buried my face in his arms.
“Well, I do want to stay with you late into the evening.”
His heartbeat quickened at my mumbled permission. Mine did, as well. I could hear the pounding, beating, thumping in my ears. I couldn’t tell who it belonged to.
Not only that, but I glanced up to see his expression. Knox’s face was set in a rigid line.
“Are you suggesting we go to the bedroom?”
“…Um, I guess.”
It wasn’t a yes.
In a flash, he scooped me up like a princess.
‘What, just like that?’
My eyes widened in surprise, unable to make a sound.
Knox continued to stomp into the cottage’s bedroom. My heart was pounding in my chest as if I was about to do something bad.
💫
The neatly made bed rustled as if it knew we were coming today. I lay down on top of it, unable to straighten my disheveled dress.
“Astel.”
He lowered his head slowly, still on top of me, staring at me.
When I didn’t answer, my eyes remained closed, and instead of kissing me, he playfully nibbled the tip of my nose.
Several light nibbles, each one sending a faint shiver through my body.
I fluttered my eyelashes and whispered low.
“This kind of thing, it tickles.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, don’t…”
I weakly pushed away with a trailing half-sentence. Knox, as usual, did not refuse my request.
“Then, something else.”
His voice was slow and husky, and by the time it reached my ear, Knox’s lips had swallowed me whole.
As soon as his lips touched mine, our breathing became ragged together. His hot breath began to layer over my reddened lips.
“Hmph…”
I held my breath and looked up at Knox when his touch reached mine.
When our skin met, touching flesh to flesh, his hands slowly lowered the shoulder straps of my dress to reveal only a light slip.
My heart pounded at the exhilarating sensation.
I shivered slightly, gritting my bottom and top teeth together in a reminder.
Then Knox wrapped a warm arm around my shoulders and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“…”
“You provoked me first,” said Knox.
“I mean, that’s…”
Before I could finish, the slip was off, and a hard hand gripping a sword tickled me from neck to collarbone.
I instinctively gasped as the hand slowly moved downward.
His touch was rougher than usual, and Knox’s gaze grew fiercer with it.
A soft moan escaped my lips as his rough fingertips rubbed my peak.
As soon as his thick weight crashed between my thighs, I let out a weak moan.
But today’s Knox wasn’t having any of that.
It wasn’t until a nibble near my neck was followed by a rough kiss down my collarbone that I relaxed a bit.
That day, I went home very late. I was left with small bruises all over my body, including my neck.
💫
Several months had passed since I’d made out with him.
‘I got in trouble with my brother for arriving late that day.’
After my brother’s scolding, Knox let everything slide.
But once a relationship moves forward, there’s no turning back. We would often meet up, hold hands, kiss, and take it to the next level.
Now that my brother was no longer interfering with our meetings, I felt freer.
‘Now it’s just me and Knox, and we’ve become quite close.’
The power of a few months was stronger than I thought.
‘Especially since he’s the kind of guy who pretends to be strong, but is really weak.’
Knox’s sincerity must have been refreshing to him, since he’d always been suspicious of people out of revenge.
So, despite their constant bickering, the two of them must have warmed up to each other.
Today was no different. My brother and I were enjoying our first dessert time together in a long time.
To be more precise, we were sharing a limited edition sorbet from a famous café in the capital that I had insisted on trying.
As I was eating the tart lemon sorbet, my brother put down his spoon and said.
“By the way, isn’t he coming today?”
My brother’s references to Knox went from him to that guy to that bastard to him. I shrugged lightly, knowing this was a lot to take in.
“It’s not time yet, maybe he’ll come over for dinner?”
“Well, yes, that would be perfect. We need to talk about the wedding in the very distant future.”
Despite his emphasis on the word ‘very distant future,’ they were soon talking about the wedding.
Knox was planning to call a hundred wedding planners.
Although my brother protested that it was an extravagance, he was completely sold when Knox said, ‘I want to make Astel the most beautiful bride in the world.’
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