Deceived, Yet Drawn to You - Chapter 102

Like Blair, he was dressed in a thin robe. Seeing that his black hair was still a little damp, she could tell he’d washed in a different bathroom.

“It was a long day.”

His voice sounded slightly hoarse as he spoke. Blair, who had deliberately paused, forced a smile.

“…It really was.”

“Are you all right? You must’ve been startled.”

“I, I’m fine.”

Edmund didn’t continue the conversation and simply looked up at Blair with an intense gaze. As if he were rummaging through her mind, already a mess of dark anxiety. As if he could see straight through the heart she’d awkwardly patched together while turning away from the ripples of emotion.

Before Blair could even swallow her dry saliva, he pushed the glass and the whiskey bottle sitting on the round table a little farther away and reached out.

“Come here.”

After hesitating for a brief moment, Blair stepped forward. The instant his hand touched her, he wrapped it around hers and pulled her in, seating her on his thigh. He buried his cheek against her full breasts and drew in her scent deep into his lungs. Blair looked down at Edmund, who was clinging to her, with complicated eyes. Their bodies were pressed this close, yet her heart still couldn’t reach him and drifted aimlessly in the air.

“I thought it might help, even if it’s just this.”

Murmuring quietly, Edmund tilted his head and buried his face against her nape as well. He scattered ticklish breaths over her sensitive skin, then pressed his lips to her breasts through the robe.

“Are you the one who’s actually okay?”

Blair cautiously spoke up. Perhaps thinking it was a strange question, a hint of amusement crept into Edmund’s reply.

“I’m not hurt just because I grabbed Rufus by the throat.”

“It’s not that. You seemed pretty worked up too….”

“As you can see, I’m calming down, so it’s fine.”

Edmund buried his face in the hollow of Blair’s collarbone and planted several kisses there. Watching a strikingly handsome man with such sharp features kiss her so intently made her heart race despite herself.

Blair couldn’t even laugh it off. Accepting his touch while holding even a fragment of distrust toward Edmund felt no different from deceit. She should’ve pushed him away. And yet, her heart thudded uncontrollably at his warmth. How could a person’s heart be this contradictory?

“My selfishness ended up causing trouble. If I’d left you in Borsa, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“That’s not true.”

Blair carefully lifted her arm and stroked his hair. Just like Edmund had done to her the whole way back to the mansion, she gently combed through his dark, smooth hair with her fingers.

“What happened today would’ve happened someday anyway, in one way or another. It was because Sir Rufus’s emotions boiled over.”

“Maybe.”

Edmund gave a faint, bitter smile.

“My brother’s inferiority complex comes from me, so us clashing like we want to kill each other is practically a fate decided at birth. It won’t end unless one of us dies.”

“….”

“In any case, I agree that avoiding it isn’t a solution.”

For some reason, it sounded like he was talking to Blair. To the woman who swallowed countless questions and accepted his lips as if nothing were wrong. To the foolish woman who allowed herself to open completely to him.

Yet you desired that version of me too, didn’t you?

“…Is Sir Rufus really leaving for Rorschach?”

“Yes.”

“Was that your decision?”

“Of course.”

Edmund continued, still pressing his lips around Blair’s chest, “Rather than failing to properly manage a single one of the many businesses our father left behind and tormenting maids in the mansion, it’s better for him to go to Rorschach and make himself useful.”

Blair also knew that Rorschach was a powerful matrilineal kingdom. There was no way Edmund would have carefully sought out a good match for Rufus. Just as he said, it meant he should serve his purpose with his pretty face and noble status.

Just like Blair. Just like the many women of the Kingdom of Genoa, only with the gender reversed.

She felt not even a shred of sympathy for a scoundrel like Rufus. Still, through him, she ended up seeing herself reflected like in a mirror. She couldn’t shake the suspicion that every word Edmund hurled at Rufus was, in the end, also aimed at her.

While Edmund had been pressing his lips against Blair’s upper chest for some time, he naturally slid his hand inside her robe. The deepening of their contact happened in an instant.

The hand gripping her swollen breast was cautious at first, then gradually filled with heat. The same was true of the kisses landing wherever his lips touched. Edmund licked the spot where Blair’s ear met her jaw, pushed the robe completely aside, and kneaded her breasts. He twisted her nipples, then trapped the soft flesh between his fingers and toyed with it until it bounced.

“…Ah. Mm….”

The sight of the large man caressing her with such unrestrained passion doubled her arousal. Letting out a moan without realizing it, Blair paused and bit her lip. Her eyes darted quickly to the tightly closed bedroom door.

What if someone was outside?

Even thinking that felt ridiculous. After screaming such lewd sounds here throughout the duke’s funeral, to worry now about noise leaking out.

No. Blair had to admit it. Ever since learning the truth about the first night, she’d been shaken. She was anxious and couldn’t trust Edmund. Her doubts about his sincerity had grown out of control and left her in disarray.

At some point, he pushed the robe she was wearing down to her shoulder blades and suddenly bit into her exposed breast. Making wet, shameless sucking sounds, he drew on the soft flesh. When the woman failed to give him the reaction he wanted, he lifted his head.

“You can’t focus at all.”

“…Ed.”

“Are you tired?”

When Blair only moved her lips without answering, Edmund muttered to himself, “You were clinging to me just fine when we were in Borsa, so what changed in such a short time?”

“Nothing changed. I was uncomfortable the whole time.”

The answer flew out before she could stop it. Perhaps the words that sounded like he was mocking the foolish woman who’d accepted him while sprawled over the conference table struck a nerve.

“Why?”

The man’s eyes gleamed coldly as he asked. The voice asking what had been so uncomfortable, when she’d reached climax countless times in his arms, sank low.

Baring her exposed breasts to face him felt like stepping onto a battlefield without armor.

“…No, it’s nothing.”

They had just reconciled, and she didn’t have the courage to face those dark eyes, so she brushed it off. After saying herself that avoidance was not a solution, she felt truly foolish.

“It’s just that my body… isn’t feeling great.”

Since the fatigue really had been piling up, Blair hunched her shoulders and lowered her gaze. It was exhaustion born from distrust toward the man she loved, but she couldn’t bring herself to say that.

“Why don’t you see a doctor?”

“That’s a bit much….”

“Then let’s do it tomorrow.”

Edmund cut off any further objection firmly and pulled Blair’s robe back together where it had slipped down below her chest. It was a clear sign that he didn’t intend to touch her any further.

“It’d be good to check, along with a regular examination. Sometimes the body sends signals when something’s changed.”

…Changed? Blair tilted her head, not quite understanding, but it didn’t take long for her to grasp what he meant. Her face flushed hot. What on earth was he thinking?

“Well, I don’t quite agree. I haven’t felt anything unusual at all.”

“We’ve been that close together. There’s more than enough possibility.”

A faint smile touched Edmund’s lips. The voice that slipped out between them was remarkably calm.

“Benjamin’s away for the moment, so I’ll send a telegram and have him come to the mansion. Let’s see him tomorrow.”

“….”

“If it’s for the reason I’m thinking of, then it’s something very important.”