Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Rosenia’s face instantly became hot. As she struggled to get out of Llewellyn’s arms, he held her tightly and kissed her on the cheek.
Kiss.
‘No, this guy’s really…!’
Rosenia was about to lose her temper, but Llewellyn came back to his senses and spoke in a low voice.
“I’m not going back to the castle. Not yet.”
‘Why not?! Now that his condition is better, he should go home now! Why is he still here?! In the villa of his family’s enemy no less! At any rate, if Adrian were to come back early…!’
“Not yet, because I haven’t engraved myself in your heart as much as I hoped.”
“…?”
Rosenia had mixed emotions upon hearing his words.
‘What’s the reason for him wanting me to like him?’
Only now did Rosenia realize Llewellyn had no other motives.
‘…Wait, no other motives? That’s…’
“…”
‘There could be. Come to think of it.’
Rosenia found it strange that Llewellyn had collapsed on the Hill family’s private property in the first place, and it was very suspicious that he didn’t have any servants or safety measures against his mana poisoning.
‘Him being friendly towards me, maybe it’s for a different reason.’
“…”
The thought chilled her blood. Her heart pounded for reasons other than excitement, and it unknowingly became stuffy.
Rosenia pushed Llewellyn with a stiff look on her face. This time he let her go without holding her back.
“Rose.”
Llewellyn called her name. She stared at him quietly, and crept away. His expression hardened like ice.
“…Duke, go ahead and have dinner. You haven’t eaten anything yet.”
“No, I’ve already eaten.”
“I’m glad to hear that…Anyway, I’m not feeling well right now…I’ll go to my room and rest. Thank you very much for the food.”
Llewellyn stretched out his arms as if to hold her back. But even before his arm could reach, she had turned her back and ran away.
When Rosenia came up to the second floor and entered her beloved attic, she could barely breathe.
With a sigh, Rosenia approached her bed and laid down. For a while, her face was planted down in the bed sheet, then she turned and laid straight, looking up at the ceiling.
Light poured through a large window, occupying one side of a wall and illuminating the ceiling.
‘I wish I could get over last night.’
It wasn’t that Rosenia hated her relationship with him. Rather, the problem was that it was too good. Spending the night with him, she felt a little disillusioned with herself, having rationalized a part of her mind that it was to save him.
However, it was difficult to keep such a complacent attitude. Not to him, or to herself.
“Whimper, whimper…”
The sound of whining interrupted her contemplation. At some point, the familiar, who had come into the attic through the wall, was whining at her from under the bed.
“What, you want a mana ball?”
Rosenia got up and sat next to the familiar, dumbfounded by its gluttonous nature.
It was a bit annoying, but a promise was a promise, so Rosenia was going to make a mana ball for it, but then the familiar launched a transparent bubble at her.
“This is… Adrian’s?”
This transparent bubble was a way for sorcerers to contact one another at a distance.
Rosenia tapped the bubble with her fingertip. And then from the burst of the bubble came Adrian’s voice.
[About ten days from now. It was quicker than I had expected. In the meantime, don’t get into trouble and take care of yourself.]
‘…Ten days?!’
A wrench had been thrown into her one month schedule, putting her on alert. She didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if Adrian were to return before she could send Llewellyn back…!
‘I-I’m completely doomed.’
Rosenia quickly rolled her head as she made a mana ball and threw it at the barking familiar.
‘If it’s ten days, then I have about seven days to spare.’
In the meantime, Rosenia needed to get Llewellyn back to his senses so she could contact his family.
‘If it doesn’t work, I have no choice but to contact his family in secret…’
Llewellyn had repeatedly told her he was not going back to the castle, which drove her crazy.
‘Does his family know? The fact that their master is half crazy in the enemy’s den and suffering from mana poisoning?! And even sleeping with the enemy’s daughter, agh!’
This mess had become hell on earth for her. She thought perhaps the whole world would plunge into chaos if their scandal became known to the public.
‘I’ll have to reply to Adrian first.’
Rosenia made one dark pink transparent bubble and put her voice in it. Pretending to be as casual as possible, she acted as if nothing had happened.
“Ten days, you’ll be back sooner than I thought. It’s so nice I’ll be able to see my brother sooner. I’m doing fine, so don’t worry!”
Although Rosenia sounded very pretentious…she knew that Adrian would be happy to hear her say ‘It’s so nice I’ll be able to see my brother sooner.’ She was certain of that.
‘Good, this doesn’t sound suspicious.’
Rosenia placed the transparent bubble into the familiar’s mouth, in which it will be passed to Adrian.
‘About seven days from now…I have to stay alert. I can’t trust Llewellyn completely.’
Other than the fact that her heart trembles whenever she sees him and his condition keeps getting better, she was unable to tell if he has any ulterior motives.
‘Is he pretending to be out of his mind, or is he really out of his mind. It’s getting more and more confusing.’
Rosenia wished she could see through Llewellyn, but he was a very difficult man to read.
Furthermore, the magic of peeping into a person’s mind, namely, mind reading, would not work on someone like Llewellyn. He had been training to defend against such mental magic since he was a kid.
Therefore, Rosenia had no choice but to keep a close eye on him and be suspicious.
‘Seriously…there’s no romance at all.’
In a way, Llewellyn might have been something like a first love to her. She felt it was very sad to have to weigh the reality like this.
Having fallen asleep at some point in her bed, it wasn’t until late evening that she woke up.
The sun was setting and darkness had just begun to fall. Blinking her eyes absently, she paused when she noticed that something was strange.
There was something against her body…It was too firm to be the bed, yet, it was somewhat cozy and warm.
‘What is it…?
In a half dazed state from just waking up, Rosenia lifted her head. Then, a man’s face entered her vision. It was a pretty face with lustrous eyes, clearly outlined even in the dim light.
“…”
Staring at the face, Rosenia hugged the warm body that was leaning against her.
“…”
Then, the body of the owner flinched considerably.
‘Ah, why. Stay still.’
Still half asleep, Rosenia dug deeper into the cozy arms. Then, there came a small sigh from above her head.
Soon after, a large hand slowly slid down from the back of her head to her back.
“You pushed me away earlier…”
“…”
“Are you doing this because you’re not fully awake?”
‘What’s this noise?’
Her eyes vacantly flickered. She was unable to think, perhaps because she was half conscious.
“Really, you move me every time. Ever since I first met you, Rose.”
“…?”
“Why didn’t you let me die…Then you would have been comfortable.”
“…”
“But you gave me your consent. And I said it clearly. I’ll never let you go.”
The man, who grabbed her chin and lifted it gently, slowly lowered his head.
Rosenia just stared at the man without the slightest idea what was happening.
It was not long before their lips overlapped. Completely enveloped as one, their breath flowed through each other, mingling.
Taking everything in, from the hot sensation and thrill running through her spine, to the arms of the man with immeasurable heat in his eyes, she finally came to her senses.
‘Llewellyn…!’
“Heup…”
Rosenia pushed him away with a slap in the chest, and unexpectedly, he backed off obediently.
But Rosenia was still in his arms and felt as if she was going to be burned from his body heat.
‘It’s obvious he wants me. Naturally, to hell with that. But, why…’
…Rosenia wondered if it was because of their chemistry. She couldn’t tell if it was good or not because last night was her first time.
‘What about him, then? Is he experienced? Also, why is he in my attic?’
Gasping for air, Rosenia asked.
“Duke…”
“Yes, Rose.”
“I have a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“By any chance…”
Rosenia swallowed her saliva and continued.
“Are you experienced?”
There was a moment of silence.
It wasn’t long before Llewellyn spoke.
“…That’s…”
“…”
“What do you mean…I don’t understand.”
Answered Llewellyn with an apparent embarrassed face. His voice also seemed a little shaky. Rosenia didn’t know if she was imagining things, but somehow he looked angry.
Rosenia asked him again as politely as possible, hoping he wouldn’t be angry.
“So, beside me, have you ever slept with another woman-”
Before Rosenia could finish, Llewellyn grabbed her wrists. She flinched on the spot from the shock.
“D-Duke?”
“…”
Llewellyn looked at her fiercely. It was such a look that could burn one’s hand if touched. She was so taken aback that she was at a loss for words.
“Rosenia, you, who on earth…”
“…”
Llewellyn spat out his words with a frustrated face, and then sighed deeply. The way he looked at her seemed to contain resentment.
“Who on earth do you think I am?”
“Uh…ah, the ever popular Duke?”
“…”
“You were very popular at the royal palace’s banquet.”
Rosenia thought there might have been one or two women who caught his eyes…
‘Wouldn’t there have been? No? He only has eyes for the female lead? But for an abstinent person, his techniques were so good! Really, I was overpowered in his hands…! If he’s not experienced, then it’s still perfectly reasonable for him to be familiar with the topic…Ah, certainly. There was something like that in the original story-’
“Did you forget what I said before?”
“What?”
“I’m sure I told you. You’re my first.”
‘Ah, come to think of it.’
Rosenia absentmindedly blinked her eyes as she recalled her past memories.
[You’re my first, Rose.]
‘So he did say something like that…’