Olivia had been confined to her room for a week, and no matter how much she insisted she was fine, the duke adamantly refused to allow her to leave.
She was surprised to see how stubborn the duke could be.
Throughout that week, the duke stayed to sleep with her, which wasn't good for her heart; having him so close made her heart race so much she felt it would burst from her chest.
Fortunately, she was still being given the medicine the doctor had prescribed, which made her sleep soundly throughout the night.
That day, after much pleading, the duke had agreed to let her leave her room, if only for dinner.
When she descended to the dining room, the duke was already waiting for her. As she sat down, one of the maids brought her a bowl of soup that smelled wonderful, and without hesitation, she began to eat. As she enjoyed her soup, the duke said,
"I two weeks, there will be a ball in my honor, and you shall make your debut."
On hearing this, Olivia dropped her spoon into the soup, causing it to spill across the table.
"Ah...?"
Seeing Olivia's reaction, the duke said,
"It seems you should resume your etiquette lessons with Professor Wilson before the ball."
Olivia always thought the duke would never formally present her to society since he had only married her at the insistence of the crown prince, and the duke had made it very clear to Olivia that he had no interest in her. Thus, his announcement took her by surprise. Shyly, she asked him.
"It is really alright for me to attend that day?"
Olivia had said this, hoping that he would realize she didn't really mean it and would tell her it was a mistake.
"Yes," he answered, "I've already told Alfred to summon a designer to create a dress for you."
After receiving the news from the duke, Olivia could no longer enjoy her dinner. Afterward. the duke said nothing more, and they finished dinner in silence. When Olivia returned to her room, Rose and Mari were waiting for her. They were both very excited and told her.
"My lady, we've learned that you will make your debut at the ball in the duke's honor."
"We will ensure that on that day our lady looks truly beautiful."
While Olivia considered this impossible, she did not want to wipe the smiles from their faces and simply thanked them for their good intentions.
"Thank you very much, I will leave it all in your hands."
That night, the maids prepared a lavish rose bath for her, complete with essential oils that gave off a very pleasant scent. After her bath, Olivia's skin was softer, and her body emitted a subtle rose fragrance.
They combed and dried Olivia's hair, and once they were done, they left her in bed and departed. Olivia tried to stay awake for the duke but eventually, sleep overtook her, and she fell asleep.
After dinner, Leonard stayed in his office late into the night finishing paperwork. Finally done, he went to his room to sleep and, passing by Olivia's room, he stopped to check on her, half-expecting to find her asleep on the floor, which wouldn't have surprised him given her bad habit of sleeping.
Inside, he turned on a small light and tried not to make noise so as not to wake Olivia. She was sleeping askew on the bed, covers on one side, her nightgown slightly above her knees, and he thought.
She's a complete mess; no wonder she catches colds sleeping like that.
Leonard approached and adjusted her in bed. Not trusting Olivia would stay put, he got into bed, wrapped his arms around her petite waist, and brought her to his chest. With her so close, he could smell the soft rose fragrance emanating from her body, which was so pleasant it helped him relax and fall asleep.
...
The next morning, he woke up very early, as he had to go to the General Headquarters for training with his soldiers. But as he was about to get up, Olivia entwined her legs with his and slid her soft hands under Leonard's shirt, preventing him from leaving, which elicited a natural reaction to the stimulus.
It wasn't that he left desire for Olivia, but since marrying her, he hadn't had time to vent his desires with any women, having been too busy defending the border to have time for such things. And with the sweet scent from Olivia's body and the softness of her skin, he couldn't help but feel desire for her.
Normally, he could keep his desires under control, but since it had been a while, he couldn't prevent his virility from awakening.
At that moment, Leonard wanted to wake Olivia and give in to his instincts and possess her completely, but he had work to do, and he couldn't indulge himself, so, reluctantly, he got out of bed and headed to his room to take a cold shower to cool down.
In the morning, Rose went to wake up Olivia. She had chosen a soft yellow dress with laces and ruffles for her, which Olivia immediately rejected. Despite the duke's return, she had no plans to change her way of dressing. In the end, Rose had given up and chosen a tunic and pants for her and braided her hair.
After breakfast, Olivia had to resume her lessons with Professor Wilson by order of the duke.
Professor Wilson gave her a quick rundown of etiquette and focused more on teaching her to dance, something that Olivia was a complete disaster at. She ended up stepping on the professor several times until he had enough and had ended the class.
Madam Margaret arrived in the afternoon with several dresses for Olivia, which were very beautiful. That day Olivia tried on several dresses, but she was unable to choose any of them as they all seemed uncomfortable, too bulky, or overly flamboyant. In the end, Madam Margaret left, promising to make a dress that would satisfy Olivia.
For Madam Margaret, serving the duchess was a great honor and a challenge, as she usually dismissed all the dresses she showed her. This only made her want to create more designs until she could create something that the duchess would be satisfied with.
In her spare time, the maids took care of Olivia's nails, gave her massages, and applied facial masks.
When dinner time arrived, Olivia was feeling tired and all she wanted to do was go to bed and sleep. She had waited for duke for dinner but in the end, he didn't show up so she had to dine alone and then go to bed.
When Leonard arrived at the headquarters, Darius, his second-in-command, was waiting for him at the entrance, informing him that the soldiers were waiting for him in the training field.
That day, Leonard forced the soldiers to train until some of them started to faint. Afterward, he went to his office to deal with the tedious paperwork that was pending. He was very focused on his work when Darius came to inform him that the crown prince was requesting his presence at the palace.
Leonard was getting annoyed with the prince's repeated calls, as it delayed his work and sometimes the prince would call him for irrelevant matters that didn't need his presence.
Leonard was seriously considering taking a break after the ball and distancing himself from the prince for a while, who was starting to bother him. If he continued to trouble him in this way, he might end up breaking his neck.
Upon arriving at the palace, the prince was waiting for him on the terrace. When he found out why the prince had called him, Leonardo wanted to throw him off the balcony.
Several diplomats from the neighboring kingdom had arrived to discuss the peace treaty, something that Leonard didn't need to be part of since it was a matter for the royal family to handle. But the prince insisted that he should be present to intimidate the diplomats. He had no choice but to accept.
Leonard was forced to stay at the palace until late at night, listening to the diplomats' nonsense, and when they finally left, he wanted to leave as quickly as possible to avoid killing the prince. But the prince stopped him before he left and said.
"Leonard, I'II be counting on you tomorrow, too. Have a good night."
The prince didn't even give him time to reply when he turned around and left. That day, Leonard wished he could tear out his heart with his own hands and crush it like a grape, but he held back and returned to the mansion.
Upon arriving, he went straight to Olivia's room, where she was sound asleep and drooling. Sleeping next to her was becoming a habit. He got into bed, wrapped his arms around her, and fell asleep breathing in her scent.
Leonard endured boring meetings and conversations with diplomats for a week, during which he would leave early in the morning and return in the middle of the night, tired of listening to the diplomats' nonsense.
Every time he returned, he went straight to Olivia's room, who slept disorderly. He would always put her properly in bed and sleep with her in his arms all night.
The diplomats would leave this week and then he could finally return to his normal life and catch up with the work that was only accumulating day by day.
During the whole week, Olivia was taking dance lessons with Professor Wilson, who was seriously considering quitting as Olivia would constantly step on him during the lessons. She was very clumsy and her feet would always make the wrong move, tripping and ending up stepping on Professor Wilson.
That day after her dance class, Madam Margaret was waiting for her to show the dress she had made especially for Olivia. She had taken a week to return to the mansion and show her more dresses. When Olivia walked in the door, Madam Margaret and her assistant bowed and greeted her.
"Good afternoon, Duchess."
"Good afternoon, Madam Margaret."
"I've brought a dress that I'm sure you'II love. This is something I've custom-made for you."
Upon hearing this, Olivia hoped it was true since it was only a week to the ball, so she would have to choose a dress for that day even if Madam Margaret's selection wasn't to her liking. Olivia, seeing the excitement of the designer, said.
"I'm very eager to see your wonderful designs."
"I'm sure the Duchess will be pleased with what I've brought this time, Sofia, bring the dress to show the Duchess."
Madam Margaret's assistant brought a large box with the dress made for Olivia. She helped her put on the dress and when she saw herself in the mirror, she was completely amazed and delighted with the beautiful dress. It was completely different from Madam Margaret's previous designs. The dress was light ad a beautiful white color, somewhat fitted to the body, showing Olivia's curves that she didn't even know she had. She looked very beautiful and happily told Madam Margaret.
"This dress is really beautiful, I love it."
Seeing the happy face of the duchess, the designer breathed a sigh of relief and said.
"I'm glad this dress was to the duchess's liking."
Olivia was spinning in front of the mirror admiring the designer's beautiful creation and was very happy that it wasn't bulky or extravagant like the nobles usually wore.
After helping her remove the dress, the designer put it back in the box on the table and left. Olivia was so excited about her dress that she took it to her room and put it in the closet herself.
That day she took the rest of the afternoon to have tea in the garden and rest for a while. During dinner, she ate alone again as the duke was so busy that he would leave before she woke up and return when she was already asleep. After dinner, she went back to her room, took a bath with rose and essential oils that the maids had prepared for her, wore a light white nightgown that left her shoulders exposed, and since she wasn't sleepy, she stayed in a small room in her bedroom and started reading a book by the fireplace. After a while, she fell asleep on the sofa.