Marlene paled when she saw Caeron walking down the hallway. The Duke, dressed in his outing clothes with a frock coat, seemed to have come directly here as soon as he arrived at the mansion.
Caeron alternated his gaze between the Duchess’s office, where the light was still on, and the blanket in Marlene’s hands. Seeing the Duke’s displeased frown, Marlene looked perplexed.
“I was just about to advise Lady Idel to go to bed.”
Despite her words, the Duke’s expression didn’t soften, so Marlene quickly added,
“I’m amazed at how quickly she’s adapting to her duties. She’s always been smart, but she’s been working so hard late into the night, it’s inevitable.”
“…So she’s been working late alone. After everyone else has left.”
“That is…”
Marlene hesitated, then closed her mouth. Even if she told him that Idel had once kicked her out of the office telling her to rest, it didn’t seem like it would alleviate the Duke’s displeasure.
“Tell Gregory to come to my office early tomorrow morning.”
“…Understood.”
Marlene silently prayed for Gregory’s fate.
“Give me that. You should rest too.”
Caeron reached out and took the blanket from Marlene.
Watching his back as he opened the door and entered the Duchess’s office, Marlene let out a small sigh. Starting tomorrow, she resolved not to leave the office before the prospective Duchess.
[This is the time separator]As he opened the door to the office, her scent, filling the room, stung his lungs. The hand holding the blanket naturally clenched.
The room flickered in the soft glow of the oil lamp, casting the shadow of a man covering a sleeping woman at a desk against the wall.
Maybe it was because of the warm, honeycolored light, but the face of the woman who had fallen asleep with her eyes closed looked serene. Caeron watched her for a long while.
He was well aware that these days, whenever she saw him, she fled from his gaze like a startled deer. There was no way he could be unaware of that subtle shift in her feelings.
‘It was intentional.’
She was an innocent woman who didn’t know how to scheme as other women he had seen did. If she had even slightly resembled his halfsister, there would have been no need for such complex thoughts.
‘It might have been easier then.’
It would have been nice if she had easily opened her heart to the affection he showed… But every time, the woman would get flustered and eventually avoid his gaze.
As if she had never been loved before.
‘The scentless flower of Fleur…’
It was absurd. This scent, so vivid to him, was not perceived by others.
At the same time, he was angry. Every time he saw her face cloud over with darkness from within. Even after leaving the viscount’s house, that ancient abyss seemed to cling to her.
The reason he wanted to keep this woman by his side was clear from the beginning.
‘I want to hold her, to possess her.’
To quench this uncontrollable, unfamiliar desire.
Perhaps he thought that this burning thirst would vanish once he had her completely. But the woman did not willingly offer herself to him.
Winning a woman’s heart was not difficult for him. The many women who rushed to him like moths to a flame, wanting his attention, proved this fact.
Yet only this woman was busy running away from him. From their first meeting to now, when he had brought her to the ducal house using the contract as bait.
In order to catch her, he expressed special interest in someone else, which he had never done before. To a surprising extent.
Whether this originated from the original intention, or was a change that occurred after looking into her abyss, he couldn’t tell.
“Hmm…….”
A thin moan flowed from the slightly parted lips of the woman. Her face, all guard down, was defenceless.
Caeron slowly lowered his head. The distance between her sleeping lips and his lips gradually narrowed. The urge to steal her fragrant breath completely dominated his body.
However, his movement stopped at a distance that seemed about to touch.
He wanted to blindly covet her, but this paradoxical feeling of wanting to wrap her without breaking created a distance called hesitation between him and her.
“Your Highness……?”
In the momentary instant created by that distance, Idel gently opened her eyes.
Her eyes, dazed from sleepiness, landed on the duke’s face before her. She thought the figure of the duke that entered her sight was a dream.
‘He’s appearing even in my dreams now.’
She had been hanging onto her work all day trying to erase thoughts about him. Despite that, she was bringing him to mind even in her dreams, and she smiled faintly at her own pitifulness.
If it’s a dream, I can look at him as much as I want. Her dim, twinkling eyes slowly took in the image of him that she couldn’t get out of her head.
The sturdy chin, lips like a painting, sharp nose, and deep eyes….
As her gaze gradually heated up, so did Caeron’s eyes. His blue pupils took on an even darker color and began to sway.
Her pupils, which met his gaze, expanded and trembled slightly.
That was the look. The one she so desperately wanted to avoid… Idel fluttered her eyelashes and whispered in a pitiful voice.
“Please don’t…”
It was like a desperate plea.
“Please don’t shake me…”
Because I’m scared I might fall for you…
Swallowing her last words, she closed her eyes as if asking for sleep again. Because she knew it was a dream that would be happy for a moment, but eventually had to be woken up from.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
