Deceived, Yet Drawn to You - Chapter 148
The limit of his patience, flickering like a candle about to go out, ended there. Kissing Blair’s cheek and earlobe at random while holding her in his arms, Edmund intertwined their fingers. Her slender fingers naturally laced with his. Even if her mind was occupied with the baby, her body was helplessly accustomed to him. Feeling a strange satisfaction, Edmund tugged her hand and led her toward the bed.
Though she clearly knew their destination, her response as she followed was lukewarm. Even her gaze remained fixed on the door. Still, there was hesitation in her eyes, as if wondering whether she should turn back.
Then he would simply have to make her focus.
Edmund scooped Blair up in his arms.
“Ah…!”
Her vision tilted abruptly as her body lifted into the air, and Blair instinctively clutched his broad shoulders. Her startled, widened eyes finally turned toward him. Even claiming her attention in this way seemed to soothe the jealousy simmering inside him.
“Put me down!”
“Your heart keeps trying to run outside the bedroom.”
“I’m not running away.”
“Another lie.”
Whispering low, he slid the hand wrapped around her thigh slowly upward. Beneath the thin robe, the bare skin without undergarments fell directly into his rough grasp, and Blair fell silent. Embarrassment tinged the breath that brushed his ear.
Embarrassment. The reaction was so belated it was absurd and adorable at once, and Edmund let out a quiet laugh. After countless nights spent together, after allowing him to claim every part of her, was she truly flustered by nothing more than his hand gripping her butt?
If that was so, how much more undone would she become now? He almost found himself curious again, as though she still didn’t realize how relentless he could be.
“Let me down. I’ll walk myself.”
“What if I refuse?”
“R-refuse…?”
“I think escorting you all the way to the bed is a husband’s duty.”
“Wait, I understand, so…!”
Edmund swallowed his laughter as he tightened his hold on Blair, who squirmed in his arms. The soft curves pressing so openly against his forearm were the reason. Enjoying the provocative friction, he moved forward at an unhurried pace.
At such a late hour, the bedroom belonged solely to husband and wife. The moment one crossed the threshold, every noise and obligation of the world ought to vanish like magic. He wished even the maternal concern that made Blair hesitate moments ago to dissolve into the darkness of the room. Here, he wanted them to explore each other’s breath and share warmth, proving that they belonged to one another.
Edmund stepped forward and laid Blair down upon the bed. Golden-brown hair spread in disarray over the white sheets, and her lovely eyes looked up at him. Watching her for a brief moment, Edmund gently bit her lips, already parted as if overwhelmed. As though granting her a chance to flee even now, he slowly mingled their breaths before trailing kisses down to her chin and the curve of her neck.
As naturally as breathing, he parted her robe and pressed his lips to the pale swell of her breasts. Deliberately ignoring the stiffened peaks, he brushed his mouth only along the soft fullness. He suckled at the plump flesh, then raised the tip of his tongue to trace around the sensitive crest. As the teasing contact continued, a faint tremor returned to him. Edmund lifted only his gaze to study her face.
Blair, already swept away by him, was flushed deep with pleasure. She stared at him with hazy eyes as though he were the only thing that existed in the world.
“…Edmund.”
Soon Blair reached out and gently wrapped her arms around his neck. Gazing up at him longingly, she teased the nape of his neck with her fingers. Edmund knew all too well that it was a silent request to sink together into a deeper night.
He lifted his upper body and pulled her slender frame tightly against him. As he kissed the woman enclosed in his arms, one hand busily stripped away the cumbersome robe. Before long, their bare bodies met without a single thread between them, and their heartbeats mingled.
“Ah…”
Their bodies, tangled as one, quickly grew heated. Edmund buried himself to the deepest place he could reach and swallowed Blair’s breath again and again. For the two of them, flushed with joy and delight, nothing remained but the instinct to crave each other, and that naked hunger stirred them more fiercely than ever before.
Soft moans and low breaths occasionally slipped out, filling the once-silent bedroom. Sharing their racing pulses, they held each other as though they might break. Backlit by the moon, the couple’s shadows soon overlapped into one and melted into the depths of the night.
***
Borsa, steeped in the breath of spring, was beautiful. Everywhere the eye could reach, cherry blossoms bloomed in profusion alongside golden daffodils, and the season’s charm was unmistakable.
Chails, the affluent district boasting the most refined landscaping in the capital, displayed the change of seasons with particular clarity.
The gently flowing Ridgeway River shimmered brilliantly, carrying the pink hues that spilled from the rows of trees. Whenever the wind blew, scattered cherry blossoms embroidered Chails in soft color, and at times they drifted in through an open window to settle quietly on the study floor or at Blair’s feet.
Just like now. Standing by the window and savoring her black tea, Blair smiled at the petal that had visited the study.
The passage of time felt newly vivid. Watching the seasonal scenery change from the study overlooking the Ridgeway River made it all the more so. It was already the third spring she welcomed with Edmund. After the first spring bound by contract, it almost felt unbelievable that they had confirmed each other’s hearts and loved so fiercely in the years since.
“…Roger, you mustn’t do that!”
At that moment, Roger, who had been diligently crawling across the floor, reached beneath Edmund’s desk. A bundle of papers scattered when the spring breeze that drifted in knocked them down, and he excitedly brought one toward his mouth.
“No, you can’t. Those are Daddy’s documents.”
“Bueeeng.”
When she took the papers from his chubby hands, Roger puffed up and burst into tears. Blair’s heart softened, yet she forced herself not to relax her stern expression. Only recently, he’d squirmed inside his swaddle, and now he crawled throughout the house and even pulled himself up by grasping at things. If she didn’t correct him now, who knew what trouble he’d cause later.
“It’s all right. They aren’t important documents.”
Spinning his pen as he watched Blair’s back, Edmund rose from his chair with a smile. He then lifted Roger, who sat plopped on the floor, and pressed a kiss to his plump cheek.
“He must take after you. Curious as well.”
Smiling as he skillfully soothed the baby, Edmund looked every bit the gentle father. Could she ever have imagined, in that spring when she first met him, that she would see this side of him? Her husband’s transformation, too, moved Blair in a way that felt newly profound.
He was once a man who locked every document away in drawers secured with keys. The vigilance that bristled at the slightest intrusion into his domain was now difficult to find even in traces. On the desk in the study lay, without hesitation, the stuffed toy Roger had chewed and sucked on, or crumpled bundles of papers. The most private space of a man once more meticulous than anyone had transformed into a place deeply steeped in the warmth of family.
“What if he really ruins something important? He’s grown so strong lately. Anything he grabs, he crumples and brings straight to his mouth.”
“He must have a businessman’s disposition. Shall we place the ducal seal in his hand while we’re at it? Let him practice early.”
“Edmund!”
When Blair cried out in shock, Edmund approached her with Roger still in his arms and whispered softly.
“You must handle a seal carefully, my son. If you stamp it carelessly, you might end up pledging your entire life to someone whose heart is pitch black.”
“Dada?”
As if sensing whom his father was implying, Roger widened his eyes and looked at his mother. Blair shot Edmund a sideways glare. It was a look brimming with affection.
“If someone heard you, they’d think I was snatched away against my will. You conveniently leave out the fact that I gladly took the hand you offered.”
“It’s the truth, so it’s fine. You love the man who swept away your entire life.”
“How could I not? Who do you think made it that way?”
With a soft laugh, Edmund tilted his shoulder slightly. Smiling, Blair kissed his cheek. They chose not to mention that the contract had, in fact, been a profitable bargain for them both.
Suddenly, a small cherry blossom petal rode the wind in through the window. Roger’s hazel eyes sparkled as he flapped his chubby hands in the air. Astonishingly, he succeeded in catching the petal and let out an unintelligible shout as he shook his tightly clenched fist. Then, without warning, he opened his tiny hand and held it out to Blair.
“Maa.”
“Oh my. Are you giving Mommy a flower?”
When Blair accepted the petal with exaggerated admiration, Roger burst into peals of laughter and wriggled in his father’s arms. He was indeed a romantic son, just like his father.
“They say there’s no point in raising a son, yet he’s already looking after only his mother.”
Though Edmund muttered as if wounded, his eyes overflowed with affection for the two of them. When his gaze met Blair’s, radiant with happiness, he drew both her and Roger into his arms at once and enclosed them against his chest. Even today, his world turned peacefully around the two beings nestled within his embrace.
“Ed, shall we go to the family villa next weekend?”
“Certainly. The weather will be perfect for riding.”
“Mm… No. I’ve had enough riding for now.”
Blair whispered with a playful lilt, brushing her fingers along the nape of his neck. There was no way Edmund could misunderstand what that subtle touch implied.
“Are you thinking of riding something else this time?”
“I am. I should test how much my skills have improved.”
“You were already excellent enough not to require practice, but I will do my best to meet your expectations and endure for a long time.”
A private exchange passed between them, too intimate for their rapidly growing child to comprehend. Edmund and Blair rubbed the tips of their noses together and burst into laughter at the same time.
Outside the window, dazzling sunlight shattered across the scene. The river glittered as though scattering jewels, and drifting petals floated through the window to settle upon them like a blessing. The baby’s clear laughter, echoing his parents’, filled the study that afternoon.
At the center of that peace, they were living through the most beautiful prime of their lives.
<The End>
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namseokmin
A beautiful end, I was intrigued in the beginning to see how if Edmund behavior would change he was kinda giving reddish flag lol I’m glad he was able to let go and embrace his love for Blair and for Blair to know the mystery behind her mother was a nice close. Also her character showing to herself and ed that they can have the happiness they deserve was nice. I’m going to miss this novel ❤️ Thankkk youuu