Julian settled down after the hot bath that washed him clean of his tiredness.

He handed Lucius to one of the maids, knowing they couldn’t sleep in the same room, but he worried that Lucius would not be able to sleep alone in a new place, so like before, he asked the maid to take Lucius to his father once they were done bathing him.

"Huff," Julian breathed as he sat down, cleaning his hair with a towel.

Then, a knock came on his door. It sounded familiar, and he just knew if he delayed by even a second, the knocker would come in anyway.

"Come in," he yelled and the door clicked open.

The Duke walked in, wearing a robe that exposed more of his chest than his clothes did.

"I see you still aren’t asleep," he said and Julian nodded.

"I just got out of the bath," he said and Alaric looked around, inspecting the fireplace and the level of warmth in this place.

The windows were opened but it still wasn’t cold.

It was the kind of room the people of the North envied.

"Are you warm?" He asked, bringing his gaze back to Julian.

"Yes, Your Grace," Julian answered, his eyes on the bottle in the Duke’s hand, as well as the two glasses in his hand. "What’s that, Your Grace?"

"What does it look like to you?" The Duke asked, dropping the bottle of wine on the table and then the glass. "I’m here to share a drink with you."

Julian was taken aback.

"All... All of a sudden, Your Grace?" He couldn’t understand what made the Duke suddenly bring up sharing a drink. Could this be their last time seeing each other by chance?

No, he shook his head. What silly thoughts was he suddenly thinking about?

"I decided on this after wondering, ’How to knock out the tutor that can’t sleep peacefully in a strange place?’." He said and Julian smiled awkwardly.

’That was a metaphor, right? He’s not planning to really knock me out, right?’ he wondered but then the thought replayed again. ’If he knocks me out, will it be the same as sleeping? Will I wake up startled again?’

He didn’t know, but he was open to trying out different options.

The Quest Clear Notification hadn’t popped up so he imagined he still hadn’t completed the quest.

"Where’s the Young Lord?" He asked and the Duke’s brows tilted a bit.

"Even when it’s just you and me here, you don’t relent to bring the kid into the matter." He said but it confused Julian. Wasn’t that normal?

"Is that wrong?" He asked, tilting his head and the Duke thought about it. It wasn’t wrong, but it felt wrong to him for some reason.

"Stop trying to change the topic," The Duke said and then opened the wine. "Lucius is currently asleep and has no business with you. So, pay attention to what’s happening in front of you, Astrea," he lifted the glass he had filled and stretched it towards Julian. "Join me for a drink."

Julian looked at the red wine glowing in the glass. It was so tempting, like the red of the apple he kept in his inventory for safekeeping. He should’ve eaten it by now, but he was unable to eat it for some reason.

He couldn’t bring himself to.

One of them was from Lucius, and the other was apparently a magic apple that the Duke had left with him.

Back to the wine...

Julian looked at the wine and then up at the Duke. If this was his means of trying to knock him out to have a good night’s sleep then it was useless.

He already tried to drink himself to a stupor, but he only woke up throwing up in the middle of the night, trembling and feeling even worse than he did on normal nights.

He’d like to refuse the wine but the Duke was the one offering it.

If he refused it, it would just seem like he was hiding something. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"My hands are getting tired, Astrea." The Duke said and Julian reached for the wineglass. "What? Are you scared? Or do you feel it’s not your place to drink with the Duke?"

"Even if I said that, you wouldn’t listen anyway," he said and finally took the wine.

"Yes, so down it in one go and I’ll let your disrespect pass."

Julian looked at his reflection in the wine, gulping worriedly.

Well, it was just wine. He doubted he’d get wasted after just one bottle. The Duke was drinking too, so half a bottle.

He closed his eyes and drank it, gulping down until there was nothing left.

The Duke watched him, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.

"That’s how it should be." He said, and gulped down his glass.

Julian watched him, his hand over his mouth as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

He just thought not, saying he couldn’t get wasted with just half a bottle, but when he drank it so fast like that, there was no way he wouldn’t lose his mind.

’This is insane.’ he thought. ’How much alcohol content is in this wine?’

"Let’s not stop yet." The Duke said, sounding a little too excited to seem sane.

"Your Grace, I don’t think... *Hiccup*"

"It’s fine," the Duke said, filling his glass again. "It’s just one bottle, so bottoms up."

Julian knew he had dug his own grave for accepting this but he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t refuse now that he had already started.

And so, he drank the entire bottle with the Duke.

Once it was finished, he lay on his bed, breathing heavily.

He felt hot. Very hot. The alcohol was getting to his head and his body was reacting strangely.

"Now, that was good wine." The Duke said, clearly still sane.

For someone able to down more than twenty bottles of alcohol in order to drown himself during his late wife’s death anniversary, this was just a refreshment.

Julian was the only one wasted.

"You’re a light drinker, hm?" The Duke exclaimed and then went to open the curtains some more so Julian could feel better.

He was going this far, thinking it was the least he could do for getting him wasted.

’At least now he’ll sleep with no issues.’ he thought.

Sure, he felt he had done a good deed, but that wasn’t all he did.

He turned with a gleeful expression, only to freeze in place as he watched Julian lying in bed with his shirt gone and his pants halfway gone.

"It’s so hot," Julian mumbled and then reached inside his underwear to take out the one thing he should’ve kept hidden in the presence of the Duke.

But he couldn’t think. He didn’t even realize what he was doing because his body was simply moving to the heat.