The Duchess and the Devil

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The bird spotted Judith and cried out to the point her ears turned red. From the sound, Derrick turned his head to her. His eyes became gentle as though he wasn’t a merciless man who swooped down and ravaged her last night.

“You’re awake? Come here.”

Judith walked to him, putting a hand over her sore waist. A small letter was in Derrick’s hand, and he merely folded it and placed it down on the desk without much thought. Derrick’s gaze reached her waist.

“Does it hurt that much?”

“That is right. Even though I am standing properly, it is killing me.”

“Really? Then should I embrace you?”

Judith was dumbfounded from his mischievous words and glared at him. Suddenly, Derrick reached out and placed his hands on her waist. Not being able to tell his intentions, Judith felt hesitant in the uncomfortable position. Right from his palm, a dark yet beautifully radiant light flowed out and permeated through her waist.

“What did you do? Just now…?”

Despite her confusion, Judith’s eyes widened upon realizing that the throbbing pain on her waist disappeared immediately.

“Does it still hurt now?”

Perched on the windowsill, he asked her with his arms crossed, grinning mischievously as though he was certain. At last, Judith realized that he had used his magic on her.

Surprised by his magical powers, she turned to the continuous flapping of wings she felt beside her, causing her to be startled. It was because the color of the black bird’s eyes was scarlet as if they were made from hardened blood. Looking at them, she was reminded of how Derrick’s irises had the same colour all night long.

“By any chance… does this bird have something to do with what you said about ‘devils’?”

“That’s correct. It’s a magical beast that I have summoned.”

The bird flapped its wings once more to remind them of its existence before rubbing its head against Derrick’s large hand. It was a charming gesture like it was recognizing its master. Judith didn’t feel any fear despite the words ‘magical beasts’ being mentioned and was even a little relaxed with the scene right in front of her, as if the creature was nothing more than a typical bird. Her former fear transformed into a faint curiosity. Judith gulped and asked.

“… May I touch it?”

Derrick nodded without hesitation.

TN: after last night, you wanna make her your wife officially now, do you?

PR: grrr bark bark arf arf

Encouraged by his permission, Judith stretched out her hand towards the bird. She was worried that it might peck her hand with its beak at any moment due to its large build and scarlet eyes. Contrary to her worries, the bird gently accepted Judith’s hand. It also rubbed its head against her slender fingers like it did to Derrick.

“You’re a picky chap, but you seem to like her.”

Derrick, who was watching the scene, said, chuckling.

Judith, who was carefully caressing the bird, was surprised and ducked her head like a turtle as a hand suddenly wrapped around her waist. Something rubbed on the nape of her neck before she could straighten her faltering body. It was after a little while when she realized that it was Derek’s nose.

“Is it because you smell so delicious?”

Derrick inhaled deeply, as if taking in the scent of flowers, and bit the nap of Judith’s neck with his teeth. Her face flushed red due to his familiar touch that made her recall the memories from last night.

“Wait, let go…!”

“Do you remember now?”

Chu.

Derrick kissed her shoulder as he asked the question. Instead of responding, Judith turned her head to the other side. Even though he didn’t hear any reply, the red tint of her ear, which reminded him of the color of apples and were exposed through her silver hair, confirmed enough for him, and Derrick’s smile deepened.

“Do you remember crying and begging me to ram into you harder, and so on?”

Still, he continued his perverse query, pretending not to know about it.

Judith bit her lower lip. If his words weren’t the truth, she would have denied it, but she had nothing to say. Last night, she lost all rationality as Derrick pushed her to the edge and gave her mind-blowing pleasure. The promiscuous and shameful memories were so vivid that she almost couldn’t believe the words he was saying.

Unable to suppress her bashfulness, Judith covered his mouth firmly.

“Stop it!”

Despite her dissuasion, Derrick didn’t budge. Instead, he had a wicked smile and licked Judith’s palm. Judith immediately removed her hand from his mouth, startled from the bizarre sensation.

She wanted to step away from him, but with her waist in his strong grasp, it was impossible to do so. Judith, instead, quickly changed the topic, thinking that he would continue teasing her with his words if they focused on this conversation.

“This bird, what is its name?”

She did her best in changing the topic, trying to let it sound as natural as possible. But Derrick laughed as if he knew what she was thinking. He then answered her, putting his chin on her shoulder.

“Carmen.”

The bird that was perching on the windowsill flapped its wings in response to hearing its name.

“Carmen,” Judith whispered softly, her hand reaching out to the bird. Carmen, the bird, silently accepted her hand, chirping like an obedient pet.

Judith then became curious.

“By the way,… what smell is coming off from me?”

Last night and even this morning, he had mentioned a delicious smell reeking off from her. The description, ‘delicious’, was a big difference that was uncomfortable as it wasn’t a word that should be attached to a person.

“A smell coming from the food that you humans eat stimulates one’s appetite.”

His cavernous, deep voice was so close, perhaps because of his chin on her shoulder. His voice, which washed over her and easily stimulated her ears, penetrated her chest and seized her heart firmly. Judith flinched and was about to break away from his grip, but it only resulted in him tightening his grip on her waist more. It was a futile attempt.

“Every now and then, there will be a smell reeking from humans that provokes our hunger, especially those who are pure, and the purer they are, the stronger their scent.”

Derrick clasped Judith’s thigh tightly over her dress before letting it go. Judith bit her lips. Her skin had become sensitive with him stimulating her, as he bit and chewed on it all night.

“That is why when I first saw you, I nearly lost my mind. You kept giving off that delicious smell so much that I wanted to devour you immediately.”

Judith recalled her memories of when he woke in the coffin.

Finally, she seemed to understand. Why he gave her that meaningful smile upon seeing her. Was it not the same response when people who had been starved for days discovered an appetizing meal before them?

Derrick’s lips slowly rose, and before she knew it, his hand which was once on her waist, moved and cupped her breast. Judith’s mind instantly became hazy from his touch, and she recovered her mind quickly, escaping from his embrace. She had a lot to talk about with him, but she also knew that she shouldn’t be fooling around with him like this.

“I, I have come here to discuss with you!”

Derrick slowly moistened his lips with his tongue as if to say that it was a pity. She couldn’t look straight at him for no reason without looking at his sensual tongue. As Judith stepped back to lean on the table, her hand touched something. When she turned her eyes to check, it was the letter he held earlier.

“This is…”

“A letter brought by Carmen.”

Derrick watched Judith touch the letter with indifference. On the contrary, he watched her amusingly, with his arms crossed. Encouraged from his lack of response, Judith carefully opened the letter.

Gulp.

There was a pointless tension in the room and she also unknowingly made a gulping sound.

“… What’s this?”

After a short while, Judith remarked unknowingly, as though she was grumbling from dejection. Inside the letters was something she had seen for the first time in her life, and she couldn’t read its contents. The penmanship was so unusual that she doubted that they were letters in the first place.

Only then did she realize why Derrick gave his permission so easily. It was because she wouldn’t be able to understand it even if she saw it.

“Curious?”

Next thing she knew, a hand took away the letter that Judith was holding. Her eyes turned to the side, and Derrick looked at her with a smiling face, slightly waving the letter he snatched. He wore a face that says he would tell her its contents immediately if she asked him to. As he had assumed, she fell for it and nodded. Derrick calmly told her, putting the letter inside a drawer.

“A letter arrived from the devildom. It says the war is over.”

If it was the ‘war’ that he had mentioned last night, then it would have been the one that lasted for a hundred years. The very war that took place in the devildom and that humans could never interfere in.

“By the way, wife. I think you know that I already answered three of your questions, right?”

Judith, who was trying to understand how a war of devils, who could conjure magic, would be like, blinked at the unexpected question that entered her ears.

“Ah… what?”

“I.”

He unexpectedly bit her cheek. She froze, her fingers flinching from the painful yet exhilarating sensation.

“Have given you three answers.”

Derrick easily lifted her from her waist in his arms and made her sit on the desk behind her. They had a huge height difference, and their eyes, which would usually miss each other when they stood, met. He then blocked her sides with his forearms, making it so that Judith wouldn’t be able to escape from him.

“Hmm?”

“… What about it?”

“Did you forget about everything that you said to me yesterday because you liked it too much?”

Judith calmly avoided his gaze. Rather than forgetting it, she remembered everything clearly. Perhaps too clearly.

Only

‘If they give you one thing, you have to give them one thing back. If they give you ten things, then you have to give them ten things back’, was a habit of the devils. As they adhered to that, Derrick was implying that he must receive payment equivalent to his three responses.

He slightly tipped her upper body back. His sensual lips roamed on Judith’s chest, and, before long, hovered over a closed button, grazing it with his teeth. He stuck his tongue out and raised his eyes to hers. As soon as she saw those sleek eyes that resembled a panther’s, she felt shivers go down her spine.

When Derrick moved his lips several times, the buttons easily became unbuttoned. Shortly, the front of her dress was wide open, and Judith became a mysterious yet bewitching figure. She made a move to cover herself, but he caught both of her hands, anticipating her actions.

“Derrick, ah…!”

Those same lips skimmed over the mound of her voluptuous breast and brushed against a firm and swollen nipple. Still stimulated from last night, it didn’t get the opportunity to soften. Derrick smiled at her sensitive reaction and bit her nipples with his teeth.

“Hah…”

Hot flesh wrapped her areola, and the sharp tip of his tongue rubbed against her nipple tantalizingly. Before she knew it, Judith, who wrapped her arms around his head, curved her waist upwards.

Derrick sucked on her breast and recalled last night when she was pinned under him, crying. Her ruddy eyes, her milky-white chest jiggling up and down and her legs writhing as she didn’t know what else to do all stimulated his hungry eyes.