Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 80: A Confidential Letter

Chapter 80: A Confidential Letter

"I think we should start with something simple, Your Highness."

Tillian smiled and moved a pile of unopened letters closer, positioning it right in front of Aideen. While very determined to finally dive into the depth of Duke’s daily responsibilities in order to help him with his overwhelming workload, the princess still had to wait until the weekend for him to be rested enough to guide her through the intricate details of his routine.

The lady kept practicing her reading and writing skills and tried to keep up with her magic lessons just to make sure her excitement would not throw her off the track, but she could not help feeling exhilarated –– she would finally work together with Tillian; they would finally work as a real couple.

But now that she was sitting right next to him, enveloped in his intoxicating scent and constantly in contact with him, she was on the verge of exploding.

’He is too close for me to concentrate... Goodness, Aideen, get a hold of yourself! This is not the time to be flustered at all!’

The princess tried to compose herself which only resulted in a light frown etched between her elegant eyebrows. The Duke noticed her forced efforts and stretched his lips into a warm smile, continuing his explanations,

"My daily, or nightly, if you please, routine starts with checking my correspondence and sorting it out in two piles: the ones that need my response, and the ones that don’t."

"How do you decide what letters go to what pile? Based on what?"

Duke Valentine took the first letter from the unsorted stack and placed it in front of the princess, resuming,

"Most of the time, I can tell right away. They are the letters sent by either merchants that help me transport my trading goods abroad, or the traders from foreign kingdoms when they send me back their reports."

"Reports?"

Aideen was starting to feel rather intimidated. She had no prior knowledge of anything related to business and had no idea how she could even learn to handle something as complex in a short period of time despite the promises and declarations she had made.

Attentive to her growing inner torment, Tillian carefully took the woman’s right hand in his and placed it on top of the letter, guiding her fingers over the big round seal in the middle of the envelope.

"Pay attention to the details, My Lady. This is the shape of the seal of the trading community. If you encounter envelopes with this seal, you can put them into the pile on the left –– I am used to having the letters that do not require my response set on the left side of the desk."

Aideen focused her senses and tried to memorize the shape of the seal –– big, round, rather harsh to touch, quite angular, and with a thick letter T right in the center of it.

With a satisfied smile gracing her lips, she nodded, and answered,

"I got it, Your Grace. I will make sure that these letters go to the pile on the left."

"Very good. Now, the second part of the letters that belong to this pile can be tricky as they are usually sent by the nobles of other Kingdoms. These letters are usually just invitations to some gatherings or official events."

"Official events?" the princess arched her eyebrows in surprise, "Isn’t it kind of important? Can you really just dismiss such invitations like that?"

The man scratched his chin, giving her question a serious thought, but then simply shrugged his shoulders and replied in a careless tone,

"Well, I do not simply throw their letters away, I still read them because before expressing their desire to see me in their palaces or manors, oftentimes, they share some valuable information about their own businesses with me. I do not care for their events because I have enough work here to keep me chained to this place, however..."

Tillian leaned closer to the princess, his warm breathing brushing over the hot skin of her ears, and added,

"Now that I have such a great helper at my disposal, perhaps one day, I will finally be able to accept one of these tempting invitations."

The Duke’s proximity to her face and his irresistibly melodic voice made Aideen feel flushed again. She felt as if her entire body was on fire and she had to resort to her own cold mana in order to regain control of her rebelling emotions.

In an attempt to distract herself from her own embarrassment, the princess rose from her seat, pulled out a random letter from the pile next to her, then infused her sparkling mana into the careful writing on the envelope, and started reading,

"From your beloved mentor... Strictly confidential... Please open when... you are alone..."

As Aideen slowly read the writing on the envelope, Duke Valentine widened his eyes, realizing what kind of letter got into the princess’s hands. The lady, on the other hand, ignorant of the peculiar contents of the letter, turned her face to Tillian, and asked in an innocent voice,

"Mentor? You have a mentor, Your Grace?"

With a vivid expression of shock on his face, the man promptly jumped to his feet, prepared to remove the envelope from the princess’s hands, however, his sudden action made Aideen recoil in surprise. The lady took a big step backwards, pressing the letter securely against her chest while Tillian made a big step forward, unintentionally pinning her against the wall of his study.

As they found themselves standing so close to one another, the world around them seemed to have stopped revolving, freezing the couple in that incredibly intimate moment.

All that Aideen could feel was the Duke’s heavy breathing caressing her hair while his scent was soaking her entire being with its leathery notes.

All that Tillian could feel was his galloping heartbeat desperately trying to break through his rib cage and Aideen’s pale skin glowing with an intense shade of hot blush.

Slowly, as if afraid that even a single wrong move would break the magic of the moment, the Duke carefully pulled the envelope from the princess’s trembling grip, then, with his face still hovering dangerously close to the crown of her head, he whispered,

"I’m sorry, Your Highness. I need to check this one... alone."

"Al-lright, I understand."

Tillian took a step sideways, making way for Aideen to walk away. The lady offered him a rather polite and even scared bow, dashing out of his study as if it were on fire.

As the door behind her back was closed, he released a long, disappointed sigh, then shifted his red eyes to the envelope tightly clutched in his left hand, and groaned,

"Of all times, your stupid letter had to be in that pile."