Chapter 144

Chapter 144

But that wasn’t entirely the truth.

It was true that she did jump into the water as some petty form of revenge, but it was done out of affection and not hate-filled vengeance.

A fire of some kind settled in her heart. It held this form of power that made Deatrice feel like she could maintain her strength even without eating and remain fine even without sleeping.

He was alive inside of her.

She had always thought that she could jump into fire for him just as she had jumped into the water. Of course, this courageous thought of hers had been squashed into smithereens by her father’s misdeeds, but back then…

Complicated feelings swept past her like wildfire.

Like a big candy that had always been sweet quickly turned into a bitter taste, which now always lingered on the tip of her tongue and made her queasy.

Deatrice pretended to be cheerful to dispel the uneasy feeling. She distanced her body from his chest and started unbuttoning her clothes.

Lucius stared blankly at her as she suddenly started undressing in front of him.

“…what are you doing?”

She answered calmly. “Entering the water.”

“Out of nowhere? But you’ll catch a cold in this temperature.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Removing one last button, Deatrice let the dress pool at the bottom of her feet and she was left with nothing but a slip.

“No.” Lucius stretched out his hand holding her wrinkled dress, but he couldn’t exactly treat her like a child and force her to get dressed, so he tried coaxing her, “Deatrice, wear it. If you get sick, it would be difficult to call for a doctor around these parts and the journey to the duke’s residence would be more tedious for you.”

She clicked her tongue as if she was bothered by his words, and it was the first time that Lucius saw her do that.

“You’re nagging,” she said.

Lucius felt like a clumsy older brother cajoling his unruly sister to comply with his demands. His face hardened vaguely, as he did not know whether to laugh or frown at the analogy that sprang into his brain.

“I’m not nagging, I’m worried. Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Lucius, don’t be such a spoilsport.” After saying that, half-joking and half-serious, Deatrice jumped into the water and started swimming. Her white slip and pale legs moved like ephemeral ghosts under the water.

It was entrancing.

“Come here.” She called out to him after swimming for some time, shoulders and arms exposed above the water with her hair swaying elegantly like seaweeds behind her.

Lucius bent over as she came closer to him, thinking she looked every bit like a seductive siren at the moment—one that he wouldn’t even want to resist.

She looked extremely guileless as she played with the water.

He even thought that maybe now is the perfect time to give her that ring, but his voice wouldn’t come out. It was like his throat was all clogged up.

Also, he couldn’t get rid of the thought that, unlike the free-spirited woman before him, he was too complicated. So Lucius swallowed his words, took off his clothes, and joined her in the pond.

The two swam for quite some time.

The unique pleasure created by the water continued even after the fact and they lay side by side on the large stones the knights had brought, then they gazed at the sky as their wet bodies trembled.

Their lips touched.

The feeling of kissing each other and leaning on each other’s warmth in the cold air as their wet bodies pressed against each other was really wonderful. Lucius lifted his head and followed the curve of her lips that was obscured by the strands of hair that fell in front of her face.

Lucius placed his hand on her waist, revealing the wet clothes that clung to her body like a second skin. He could see her nipples standing stiffly over the damp clothes.

Unable to stand it any longer, he lowered his head to bite her chest. Her soft breasts were sucked into his mouth along with the wet cloth, his warm breath heating her up.

“Ah…”

Deatrice’s moan rang out briefly.

Lucius hurriedly raised his knee and rubbed it between her legs. She twisted her body to get out. But when he pressed down on her nipple with the tip of his tongue, the pleasure stopped her from moving any further. Lucius let out his rough breath over her body and lowered his hand beneath her waist, clutching her soft buttocks.

He could feel that he was more excited than usual because they were outside.

“Lucy!”

She moaned out his name.

But if she really wanted to dissuade him, she shouldn’t have called him by that name.

Rather, Lucius felt himself getting even more heated by her nickname for him. Crashing his lips onto hers again, Lucius tugged at Deatrice’s legs. His hands naturally went down her skirt and opened her thighs.

Then Deatrice bit his lip, hard.

“Ah.”

Lucius parted his lips in surprise. The sight of Lucius licking his lips that Deatrice bit with his tongue felt terrifyingly handsome and seductive that it even caused a pleasurable jolt between her thighs, but Deatrice hardened her face and warned him.

“Lucius. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m a wanton woman… that would do… unspeakable things on a big slab of stone outside…”

“Is it because the stone is uncomfortable? I can have it changed—”

“Lucius.”

Eventually, at that point, Lucius had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. He wanted to convince her that the knights moved this stone for them with great difficulty, but he tampered down his desire with his remaining sanity.

It’s all up to her.

Lucius thought with a little discontent.

She said I was nagging her and then went into the water on her own, then came back looking like this?

So, as Deatrice was trying to escape from his clutches, he left a huge kiss mark on the lower part of her collarbone and a startled voice called out his name.

He had to take some revenge for her teasing him, after all.