Chapter 57 Enough Of That, Come On Over
She felt her heart drop to her toes.
It was a good thing she turned around.
She was glad he hadn’t turned around, because her own face would have been blue with terror.
“That demon has murdered, what, a thousand people!”
The terrified voice of the man she had heard in the daytime rang in her ears.
Delphine barely managed to speak, remaining stiff and rigid in her backward position.
“Yes. That’s what you just said… Why?”
No answer came from behind her back.
Why? What? Did he notice? What part?
Was her excuse too weak?
Her chest felt like it was burning with tension.
It wasn’t until her lips felt like they were drying out that he answered in a languid tone.
“… No. Because you forgot the book you said was so interesting, and you came empty-handed.”
Oops.
Her mistake.
It was a small detail, of course, but it could have been a big clue to a man with such sharp senses.
How could she defuse this situation naturally?
Biting her lip, Delphine finally made up her mind and brought her hand to the button of her dress behind her back.
Pop, pop, pop.
The nape of her neck prickled as she undid each button.
She wondered how he was looking at her now.
Delphine remembered the night of the last snowstorm, how he’d unbuttoned her dress, how he’d been so easily overcome with lust.
‘That’s enough. Come on, let’s go…’
Don’t pay any attention to the useless fact that she came empty-handed, or that she was locked up in her study all day.
Just give her the usual…
She hadn’t even unbuttoned a few buttons when a large hand touched her back.
It’s done.
Delphine swallowed back a triumphant cheer.
Once again, he had melted at her slightest gesture.
Delphine turned her head to look behind her.
But there was something strange about it.
Ioannes wore an expression she had never seen before.
It wasn’t the lust-filled, struggling-to-contain-him expression she’d seen before.
Instead, she looked as if she were considering something, her white shoulders bared.
Why did that look strike him as so ominous…?
“… Ioan?”
The dress finally came undone and fell to the floor.
Luckily, his suspicious behavior didn’t last long.
Ioannes swept her into his arms without missing a beat, clad in a sheer chemise dress.
A large hand stroked her wavy red hair, and ever so gently, his fingers skimmed over her moist flesh.
The touch sent a surprisingly ticklish sensation up Delphine’s lower belly.
He buried his head in the nape of her neck and whispered against her lips in a low, goosebump-inducing voice.
“You were so eager to see me, you forgot about the novel you’ve been reading, didn’t you?”
His head snapped up and his lips lifted in an ecstatic smile.
“Isn’t that right, My Lady?”
His breath touched the bare skin at the nape of her neck this time, tickling.
The hardness and heat of his body against hers was disconcerting.
But most disconcerting of all was the sensation of her lower abdomen tightening in response.
To feel this way at his touch, after all the carnage he had just committed. She couldn’t believe it.
Was this right?
As she twisted her body away from him in an almost guilty conscience, another voice rang in her head.
“Make him fall in love with you.”
… So, since she was told that, it must be okay, right?
She is just fulfilling her mission, right?
Not being swayed by some demonic, as-yet-unknown man.
“Yes,” Delphine replied, trying to regain her senses from the fog that seemed to be swirling around her head.
“That’s right…”
She sees. Better this way than having him find out she’d visited District 3.
There’s a lot more to find out from him in the future, so it’s best to rattle him further for now.
“You’re right, I did. I missed you.”
His hand stroking her paused for a moment.
Delphine exhaled a sweet breath, but inwardly smiled a smile of conversion.
Again, at this point, he always stopped, unable to restrain himself.
But.
“…?”
His large hand began to move in a more daring direction.
Delphine didn’t know much about this kind of behavior, but she could tell immediately that his touch was different than before.
Before, he’d always been drunk with uncontrolled lust and wild.
But now he was so different, so gentle, so insistent.
“Ioan…?”
She called his name, panicked, and he pulled away.
It was further proof that he was perfectly sane and in control of himself now.
Ioannes’s eyes flicked up at Delphine, who looked at him in surprise.
“I’m sure you’re very tired today, so shall we wrap things up, My Lady…?”
Delphine nodded quickly, and he kissed her cheek lightly, as if to say, “I love you,” before heading for the bathroom.
For a moment, she was relieved to be away from his warmth against her back.
‘… Wait. Did you just say I was going to be tired?’
He must know she’d been in the study all day, right?
Had he noticed something.
No, no, no.
As soon as she heard the news of his return, she returned to the manor.
Shs checked thoroughly to make sure Lynn had no spies following her with magic.
‘No, it can’t be…’
She’s just fooled by her own act of love for him, and she’s not the same person she was before.
‘Maybe I’m being too sensitive…’
With that thought in her head, Delphine stared fearfully into the bathroom, where she could hear the water running.
***
Cool streams of water poured over the man’s rock-hard body.
The cold baptism did little to cool his body and mind.
With a grim expression on his face, Pride recalled the reports he had received today.
She had been quiet and confined to her manor for some time, but today she had finally made her move. But…
“The lady was in her study the entire time, and we didn’t catch her leaving the manor.”
In fact, he’d planted a well-trained spy in the manor, disguised as a maid.
All of the maids he’d hired to keep an eye on her had feigned bites, catching her off guard.
There’s no way the seasoned spy could have missed her leaving the manor.
But the faint stench of wastewater caught his nostrils as she hurried into the main hall.
It was the smell of District 3, something he could never smell in his manor in District 1.
There was only one way to move freely from District 1 to District 3 without being seen by the spies he had planted.
There was only one way.
“Is it magic…”
But how?
He knew best that she had no connection to Veritas.
So that left only one possibility.
‘… Is in contact with those rats.’
The why and how would come later.
Those were questions he’d figure out in short order.
The first thing that hit him was not those questions, but anxiety.
A problem he hadn’t worried about since his marriage suddenly popped into his head.
‘She might leave me.’
Never before had he felt this fear, no matter how much she had doubted him, how much she had spurned him.
As long as she’s in this Empire, there’s no room for her to escape him.
… But what if she finds out all the Empire’s dirty secrets and tries to escape?
Then even his power would not be able to stop her.
Nor will he ever find her.
The thought sent chills down his spine and goosebumps all over his body.
It was a sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Fear, anxiety, worry, these human emotions.
He’d given up all of his humanity to gain the power and position he has now.
Somehow, when it comes to her, he feels like a weak human again.
He is just a weakling, playing by the orders of a heart that could be a mouse in one hand…
What the hell am he going to do now?
As the water poured down on him, Pride began to think.
He wants to protect her.
That was the only goal and desire he had ever had in his life.
But now he had to admit it.
The past half-decade of marriage had created a new desire in his heart, one that was just as strong.
He wants to keep her ‘by my side’ and protect her.
Why not?
How dare another man touch her, her saintly body…
Ouch.
The hand that had been curled up must have strained too much.
Pride stared at his hand with numb eyes, the bones in the back of his hand twisting and bleeding.
He licked his tongue over the red blood running down his knuckles and thought again.
He wants to keep her by his side, protect her.
He wants to keep her chained to him forever.
He kept repeating himself, his eyes almost animalistic.
How to keep her forever in this false, comfortable paradise of his own making.
… What is that?
