The Northern Grand Duke and the Cat Are Not So Different

Chapter 14

Thinking he might have regained consciousness, the Duke looked back, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The aide moaned a few more times, then stretched out his hand, groping beside him.

The Duke watched this quietly, wondering what was happening.

After fumbling around for a while as if searching for something, the aide’s hand touched the Duke’s hand standing by the bedside. The Duke felt the aide’s body temperature, which had cooled down to become lukewarm, on his fingers. Not disliking the sensation, he didn’t move away, and the aide wrapped his hand around the Duke’s little finger.

Then, as if that was what he had wanted, the aide calmed down again with a satisfied expression.

As expected of an unconscious person, it wasn’t a strong grip. Moreover, it was just the little finger that was held.

Nevertheless, the Duke could only stand there, staring at the finger with a lower temperature than his own, instead of pulling it away.

This was normally the time when the Duke should have been sound asleep on the sofa by the window in his bedroom. With his accurate body clock, the Duke was starting to want to lie down and sleep where he desired.

But now he was caught like this. It was a troublesome situation.

The Duke usually didn’t share his sleeping space with other creatures. How could he fall asleep in front of another being? How could he be so defenseless?

He always needed to be in a state where he could respond to anything that might happen in front of other creatures. If it was someone he trusted not to threaten him, he could show trust by blinking his eyes or keeping all four paws off the ground, but…

Sleeping together was a different matter. To be completely exposed to another creature in the most vulnerable state. Wasn’t that not just careless, but reckless?

But… why did the finger caught by the aide’s thin hand feel so heavy?

The Duke looked down at the aide.

Above the carefully tucked blanket, he could see the skinny shoulder with no visible muscles, and the neck that looked like it might break if he applied a little force. And above that, a pale face that couldn’t even open its eyes, too sick to be wary of anything despite being so weak.

The Duke absolutely had no intention of falling asleep in the presence of another creature.

But… now this weak guy was sick. Perhaps the fever might rise again while the Duke was gone.

So the Duke had no choice but…

He climbed onto the aide’s bed and lay down.

In the room where only moonlight seeped in without any other lights on, lying down with a breathing presence right beside him made the Duke feel an extremely unfamiliar emotion.

It wasn’t exactly a comfortable feeling, but it wasn’t unpleasant either. As the Duke wondered what this feeling was, he looked at the person lying next to him.

The deeply sleeping human emitted a familiar scent. A refreshing scent that had mixed with his own many times. Smelling it, though he wasn’t sure exactly what this feeling was, he felt like he might be able to sleep after all.

The Duke slowly breathed in time with the sound coming from beside him, feeling the slightly lower body temperature wrapped around his finger.

As he did so, little by little… his consciousness began to fade.

* * *

It felt as if every finger and toe was filled with languor, as if he had just woken up after being sick for a long time.

‘I’m sure I sweated a lot, but…’

Strangely, the skin touching the blanket felt fluffy rather than clammy.

‘How is that possible…’

His brain, not yet fully awake, could only question without attempting to find answers to those questions.

Instead of pondering the cause of this inexplicable comfort, Ruan burrowed deeper into the soft blanket to savor it.

‘Come to think of it, the blanket is touching my skin directly.’

Why? Did he take off his clothes in his sleep?

While moving to find a more comfortable position under the blanket, something touched his leg. Judging by the firm sensation on his calf and the body temperature slightly higher than his own…

It felt like someone else’s bare leg.

Ruan, who hadn’t noticed the finer details like how that leg was packed with formidable muscles, only thought that the subtly different body temperature felt nice.

Ruan idly stroked that firm calf with the inside of his foot. Indeed, the temperature was just right to feel good.

As he was thinking that his whole body felt languid and that he wanted to melt and stick to that warm temperature like rice cake melting on a frying pan,

Suddenly, a purring sound came from the owner of that body heat. Like the engine of a sports car. Or…

‘A cat’s purring sound… maybe?’

At that thought, Ruan finally had the realization he should have had earlier.

Why…

Is someone else’s…

Bare leg…

In my bed?

This shocking realization instantly pulled his half-asleep brain into a fully awake state.

In an extremely alert state, Ruan suddenly sat up as if he had never burrowed into the blanket. Displeased by the sudden movement, the person lying next to him stirred.

So…

Jet-black hair so thick it could be called dense. Features so three-dimensional they were almost burdensome, excessively straight, and much clearer than Ruan’s future at this moment. Between the slightly open, clear and refreshing eye lines, sharp golden eyes were revealed.

And.

Below that… a bare shoulder as broad as a door.

…A bare shoulder.

Without even lifting the blanket, it was clear that the Northern Duke, in a state of wearing absolutely nothing,

Was lying next to Ruan.

At that moment, the blanket covering Ruan’s chest lost its strength and fell with a thud. Along with it, Ruan’s heart dropped.

‘What… on earth… is this?’

As Ruan fell from a languid and fluffy bed into a crucible of confusion and shock in an instant, the Duke slowly raised his body beside him.

With an expression no different from when he was working in his office even in this chaotic situation, the Duke began to stretch, elongating his muscular body like a languid predator. Ruan’s pupils shook aimlessly, witnessing his superior’s physical beauty spectacle in his own bed first thing in the morning.

After calmly finishing his stretches with a nonchalant face, the Duke finally spoke.

“Hmm. I slept until morning.”

Is that… the first thing to say?

As Ruan, still unable to comprehend the situation, was frantically shaking his pupils, the Duke turned his head towards Ruan and asked,

“Are you alright?”

Am I alright? What happened? Was there something that happened that warrants asking if I’m alright?

As Ruan, unable to make rational judgments due to the excessively shocking situation, was struggling to recall the events of the previous night that he normally wouldn’t remember,

The large body, supported by an arm with tightly packed muscles resting on the bed, suddenly leaned towards Ruan. Before Ruan, startled by the sudden approach of the flesh-colored mass of muscle, could make a sound,

The Duke’s straight nose tip brushed against the area between Ruan’s neck and shoulder, near the collarbone.

As Ruan flinched at the unfamiliar sensation, the Duke spoke in his usual flat, matter-of-fact voice,

“You still have a low fever, but it’s better than yesterday.”

As if that concluded his business, the Duke rose with a lightness that didn’t match his size. As the blanket that had been barely covering his lower body fell away, the Duke’s taut nakedness was fully revealed.

The line from the broad shoulders and impressively thick chest to the relatively slender waist and narrow hips, and the thighs where large muscles asserted themselves with every small movement, resembled a top predator rather than a human. Faced with this testosterone-filled sight too burdensome to see first thing in the morning, Ruan tightly closed his eyes to protect his mental state, then,

“I’ll see you later then.”

He opened his eyes again at the calm voice that seemed not to care about his reaction.

The naked Duke, without a hint of embarrassment despite being completely exposed, took large strides. Ruan, momentarily dazed and unable to grasp the situation due to the overly dignified bearing, only realized when he heard the sound of the door opening and closing.

‘That man is… naked right now.’

Did he… just go outside naked?

Panicked, Ruan hurriedly wrapped himself in the blanket and ran out to open the door…

But only a cool breeze blew in, the Duke’s figure already gone.

‘This is bad.’

Although it was still dim outside, it was late enough for knights on patrol to be around. If someone were to see the Duke walking around naked…

As that thought occurred to him, Ruan realized that his own appearance wasn’t exactly suitable for standing outside the door either. Reluctantly closing the door and coming back in, Ruan slumped down.

‘What on earth is going on…’

Ruan, sitting in front of the door barely covered by a blanket, tugged at his messy hair and fell into deep thought.

He needed to somehow interpret and explain to himself this absurd situation.

First, last night.

‘What exactly happened last night?’

Ruan’s last clear memory was of dragging his unwell body home and falling asleep as if losing consciousness. He had no memory after that.

‘Come to think of it…’

He hadn’t realized it because he was too shocked, but although his body was still heavy and his throat still hurt, the fever had definitely gone down.

Ruan recalled the Duke’s words, which he had momentarily forgotten due to the sudden naked encounter with his male superior.

‘You still have a low fever, but it’s better than yesterday.’

Could it be…

‘Did the Duke take care of me?’

As he dragged his languid body back to the room, he saw a small basin and a wet cloth at the head of the bed. These were typical traces of caring for someone with a fever.

The air in the room was also warm without any chill. Since he had collapsed as soon as he got home from work, he couldn’t have paid attention to heating, so this too seemed to be thanks to the Duke.

Given that there was even paper soaked with the smell of medicinal herbs… Did he even find and administer medicine?

‘How did he find it?’

A wry smile escaped Ruan’s lips, remembering how he hadn’t even dared to look for medicine because he didn’t know where anything was, despite it being his own house.

With no one in the house and no strength to do anything himself, he would have just collapsed as he was. In reality, he would have been in a situation where he could only suffer alone, unable to move.

Honestly, it had been a rather helpless situation… But now, waking up and seeing traces of someone caring for him, spending their time and heart, he felt grateful and touched.

Moreover, the Duke didn’t seem like someone who had ever nursed anyone before. To think that such a person had been busy moving around all night for his sake…

To think…

He couldn’t focus on feeling touched because every image in his mind of the Duke ‘busy moving around all night’ was naked.