***
Sophie may have been a little mistaken when she thought that she would be at peace here in Duke Romanov's castle with her children. The truth of the matter was that Sophie was not actually that prepared for taking care of babies.
She had the spirit and love to take care of her two young boys. However, taking care of twins proved to be a daunting task for one person alone. The cries of the lycan puppies were extremely loud.
Sophie, who was still feeling weak after childbirth, found herself shocked at how much lung power the babies had. It was an incident that made the lycans who were all good with hearing somewhat bothered.
"Oh no," Sophie muttered as she quickly did her best to stand up from her bed to attend to her two babies. However, before she could even step down into her bed, someone quickly knocked on the door.
"Sophia?" Duke Romanov's voice called out to her from the other end.
Sophie quickly became nervous that the duke who may have found the babies cute earlier would be annoyed at how noisy her children were and disturbing the rest of the people past midnight.
"Ah, my apologies, your grace!" Sophie called out as she stepped towards her children and tried to pick the two of them up at the same time. She wondered if they were hungry or if they needed something else…
One was wailing on the top of his lungs, and his brother was trying to crawl away from him. She panicked to see it and was worried he would fall to the floor and hurt himself.
"I'll be coming in." Leland felt that Sophie was panicking about her children and what he thought of them. Since he heard no argument from Sophie, the man stepped into the room and saw the mother with her children.
Sophie looked a bit frantic and her hair was a bit messy, too tired after giving birth to even think about her appearance. This made Leland frustrated to see her maidservant, Dinah, was nowhere to be found.
However, it was possibly a blessing in disguise.
Compared to Sophie who absolutely had no idea whatsoever of what it was like to take care of babies… Leland actually had the experience of seeing Anne take care of Sophie while she was still a baby.
All those years ago, Leland felt a bit jealous to see Sophie being taken care of by Anne. Her mother's love was amazing. The memory of Anne suddenly inspired Leland to take a step forward and offered to take one of the children in his arms. He could see how much of a struggle it was for Sophie to hold her two babies alone.
"Alpha… I'm so sorry, I may have fallen asleep by accident," Sophie said in apology while cradling one of her sons. She passed one of them to Duke Romanov because she was feeling a bit weak. Her babies were very healthy and now quite heavy.
Leland shook his head, started cradling one of Sophie's sons in his arms. He rocked the pup in a relaxing motion. Anne once used it to soothe baby Sophie before and it worked on her son as well.
Sophie was surprised to see it. She immediately mirrored the duke's movements. It really helped and her previously wailing son slowly became drowsy. He yawned many times and finally fell asleep. Sophie heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you so much. I was not aware that you were good with babies, my lord."
Leland wanted to say that it was actually thanks to her mother, but he decided not to say anything.
"Please go to bed, Sophia. I am not sure why Dinah is not here to assist you, but I'll be looking after your sons. So, please get some rest."
"I couldn't possibly ask you to do that." Sophie's eyes widened in shock.
Leland smiled a little and shook his head. "I've married you, Sophia, and have taken you as my wife. I am not only sharing my wealth with you but I also wish to share the responsibilities that you have."
"But…" Sophie didn't want to point out that these babies were not the Alpha's. She could only bite her lip and look away.
Why was this man so kind to her?
Leland felt the hesitation in her chest but he insisted on getting Sophie to bed. "Do not argue with me any further because I'm worried that you won't stand any longer. You can trust me with your children, Sophia."
Sophie couldn't argue with the duke after she explicitly told her not to. So, she bowed her head awkwardly and thank him. "Understood. Thank you for your help, my lord."
She finally passed her second son to the duke as he requested. She was surprised to see the duke at ease with the two children.
He looked like he took on the fatherly role quite well. Duke Romanov's arms were more than enough to carry both of them at the same time without even batting an eye at the weight.
The sight eased Sophie's heart as she reluctantly went to bed. Her eyes were still on her children and she couldn't help but still feel that she should be the one doing all the work. But her husband was right. She was so exhausted.
"Are you uncomfortable with me being here in your room?" Leland wondered why Sophie was still looking at him and didn't sleep as he told her. There were times that it was a little hard to distinguish between the emotions flowing through her.
Sophie blinked and found herself a bit surprised. No, she was not uncomfortable by the duke's presence in her room. On the contrary, the thought never crossed her mind.
She was only feeling a bit guilty and distracted by the fact that she wasn't the one caring for her children. The man was not even the father of her boys, yet not only he didn't say anything, but he also treated them very well.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m