Chapter 22
Whenever she had this premonition, she would always have nightmares. She never wanted to experience the crisis she had experienced for the first time in her life again, either in her memories or in her dreams.
What she needed now was warmth. Of course, not just anyone’s warmth. She needed the warmth of the man who had truly cared for her when she was sick and saved her when she was in danger.
“Stay with me tonight.”
He paused while talking to the coachman. He met my gaze as it returned to him, and he muttered something like a sigh.
“I don’t want to be alone… … .”
When the carriage finally started moving, it was clearly headed towards the Duke’s residence.
* * *
Krak krak.
The embers in the fireplace burned endlessly and made a crackling sound.
Sis wrapped the blanket Alexis had given her around her body and took a sip of tea. The sweet tea with lots of honey slightly lifted her mood.
Normally, whenever she met him, there would always be a servant waiting nearby, but today, it was late and Alexis had sent them, so it was just her and him in the reception room.
“Still cold?”
“It’s okay now.”
When I first arrived, the reception room was like an ice rink.
As she shivered in the cold air, Alexis rolled up his sleeves without hesitation and lit a fire in the fireplace. He ordered his servants to leave, but they would return without a word if the bell rang, but Alexis did not do so and filled the room with warmth himself.
Even though he may have done it without any particular intention, Sis liked seeing him try so hard for her. It made her feel like she had become someone precious to him.
Alexis, who had come to the sofa, raised his hand and stroked her cheek once. He had done the same thing a little while ago when Sis was shivering. He checked with his eyes and fingertips that her skin had become more rosy than before and sat down next to her.
Sis thought it was a good thing that she had taken the trouble to ask him to stay with her. Otherwise, she would have had to give up all the warmth surrounding her. The deep-seeping peace made her chest warm and loose. She didn’t know when it had been since she had felt so comfortable with him.
Sis sat deep in the back of the sofa, sipping tea. Alexis sat with his legs crossed, staring at the fireplace without saying much. They didn’t say anything to each other, but the atmosphere wasn’t all that awkward.
Sis, who was blankly staring at the blazing flames, suddenly remembered that she had not greeted him about today’s work.
“Thank you.”
When Hosson was stopped by Alexis and Sis just got up, she saw clearly that the balcony doorknob that had been fine was completely smashed. It was evidence of how anxious Alexis had been outside the locked balcony.
“If it weren’t for the Duke, what on earth would have happened… … .”
Her face darkened as if she didn’t even want to imagine it. Alexis, who had his arms resting on the back of the chair, stared blankly at Sis.
Sometimes he would look at her with such a burdensome and tiresome gaze. In the past, she had been afraid that her true feelings would be revealed, but now she was curious about the emotions contained in those eyes.
Sis was not rejecting the changes in her relationship with him, but was accepting them one by one, step by step. This was quite unexpected for her, who was always defensive about everything.
“I came back after paying my respects to His Majesty, but I couldn’t see you at all. So I went looking for you and… … .”
He frowned without continuing. It seemed that both of them did not want to recall the incident from earlier. Not wanting to continue the topic they did not like, Sis gave a small smile. Alexis also did not continue the conversation about it, as if he understood the meaning of the smile.
He quietly reached out and stroked her red hair.
“In the city.”
The moment Alexis opened his mouth quietly, and the moment he muffled her name in a hoarse voice, Sis’s heart rang loudly as if someone had knocked on it.
Until now, he had never mentioned her name. Therefore, this was the first time that her name was called by him.
My own name, brushing past my ears, felt awkward. It was a name I had known my entire life, for almost hundreds of years, but just because he called me, it felt unfamiliar, like someone else’s. But my heart was pounding wildly, unable to contain its excitement, which was truly contradictory.
“You said you fell in love with me at first sight.”
Just like the family story we had at the banquet hall earlier, and even now, Alexis kept bringing up past conversations again today.
“Um… … That’s right.”
To be honest, I didn’t really like this topic. Because it was no different from an excuse I made to avoid a crisis. Moreover, I was extremely embarrassed that I would look like a crazy woman who would blindly make up stories to a man I just met.
“And because you liked the night you spent with me, you said you wanted to be my lover.”
He ran his fingers through her hair as he unraveled the events that had transpired between them. Sis couldn’t figure out why Alexis was acting this way, so she listened.
“And after that, we spent more time together than I thought.”
Alexis gently untangled the hair that had been tangled around his fingers and cupped her cheek, his same persistent gaze wandering over her features as if he were drowning in water.
Why on earth does he look at me so affectionately?
“So, let me ask.”
As the flames burned ever hotter, Alexis’s voice became quieter and quieter.
“Is that feeling still valid?”
“Which feeling?”
“I want to be your lover.”
The fire in Alexis’s eyes flickered wildly.
“If it’s still valid, then you won.”
Somehow, she felt like she knew what he was going to say, so Sis held her breath. Her fingertips were tense and tingly.
“Now it’s time for me to beg you to be my lover.”
He suddenly brought his face close to mine.
“I want to experience dating you.”
But Sis just felt her heart pounding rather than being burdened. Now, this level of excitement felt familiar when she was with him.
The moment Sis realized her reaction to hearing his confession, she realized that Alexis had dug too deep into her heart.
The fact that she, who was good at avoiding things, naturally accepted the changes with him, the fact that her heart would start beating faster and faster as a conditioned reflex whenever she saw him, the fact that the atmosphere when they were alone together didn’t feel that awkward, and the fact that it was nice to see him trying so hard for me.
All of this happened because Alexis had become special to her. He had seeped into her life, which was as dry as a drought, like
moist rainwater.
“So, what’s the answer?”
He, who always seemed relaxed, was acting so irritable. However, Sis was so confused by the flash of realization that she couldn’t answer right away. When she hesitated, Alexis turned his head slightly and brushed his lips against hers.
It was a voice that seemed to be entreating or yearning for affection.
The city was in chaos.
Telling him that she wanted to be his lover was simply a strategy, not something she really wanted. When she said that, the only thing that mattered to Sis was a way to naturally enter the duke’s residence. That way was to pretend to have feelings for Alexis.
The situation she was facing now was a scene she had never pictured in her head.
The reason Siss approached him was to end this foolish life and put a period on the long time that had been going on. So, she was preparing to disappear from this world.
The time for that to come to fruition was near. She was able to enter his mansion without any hesitation, and thanks to Mona, she had figured out the exact location of the exhibition hall. So now it was just a matter of putting into practice the plan she had been drawing in her head. The time had come for her to realize a wish she had been dreaming of for hundreds of years.
In the midst of all this, Alexis’ confession was a powerful variable that could ruin all those plans.
“… … .”
To be honest, it wasn’t that the heart that had just realized it wasn’t stimulating reason. What if she accepted him? He and she both wanted each other so much. It seemed like the bright red impulse was whispering in her ear like a devil.
But I couldn’t just accept his confession and disappear just because of my greed. Especially since I had just realized my feelings for him.
She didn’t want to do anything that would cause him a permanent scar. She knew very well how lonely and sad it was to be left alone after someone precious to her passed away.
But I didn’t want to reject him right away. Sis just didn’t want him to get hurt in any way.
But isn’t that an impossible assumption from the start? Whether she accepts his feelings or rejects them, she’ll leave him.
“… … My heart hasn’t changed.”
Alexis let out a sigh of relief at Sis’s hesitant answer.
“But please give me some time.”
The voice that was barely able to come out sounded like it was being squeezed from the back of her throat.
Alexis looked at her with deep eyes like the bottom of a calm lake. Then, without saying anything, he simply brushed back her hair, pulled her neck, and kissed her.
