Chesterfield Mansion: The House of the Man Who Hates Me - Chapter 28

Now, Ophelia Montes had returned. Izer remarked sarcastically with sincerity,

“Should I take this to mean her opium addiction has been cured? I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“Izer, I told you that wasn’t the reason she left.”

“That’s what you want to believe, Mother.”

Seeing Renée’s hurt expression, Izer regretted his words.

“I misspoke. I apologize.”

Renée soothed her son in a gentle tone.

“I know you don’t think of Ophelia rationally. But Ophelia is a pretty girl. Her feelings for you are sincere too.”

“……”

“Even though the Montes are commoners, they have great influence. Your marriage with Ophelia will be viewed favorably by commoners too. It’s almost symbolic of the harmony between nobility and commoners. Harris is thinking of you……”

Izer sometimes envied Renée’s naivety.

His adoptive father hadn’t expected his frail wife to suddenly conceive his child. So he had given the heir position to Izer without hesitation. His decision was separate from his hatred for Izer, and was merely a means to turn Renée Ren into Renée Chesterfield.

But after Percy was born, the situation changed. His hatred towards his adopted son sitting as the next duke while he had a son of his own blood reached its peak.

However, his mother was satisfied with the mere fact that her son had been stably adopted. She was such an innocent and simple person.

Izer was careful not to shatter Renée’s illusions. He wasn’t rude enough to criticize the best efforts his mother had made for him.

But sometimes it was necessary to be stubborn. Izer expressed his opinion in a blunt tone.

“Mother, I will not marry Ophelia.”

Unless he was out of his mind, there was no way Izer would want to marry a Montes. That was why Harris had pushed for Izer and Ophelia’s engagement.

If William Winston had had a sister, Harris would have tried to pair him with her. That’s the kind of man his mother’s new husband was.

Renée’s lips quivered. She knew about William Winston’s misdeeds, but didn’t know Montes was involved.

“Is it because of Celian?”

Ah, Mother. Izer deeply hid his sneer. To say this was because of that woman would require too much explanation, but to say it wasn’t would be denying her significant role.

Renée seemed to have interpreted her son’s silence differently.

“……Does she feel the same way about you?”

Izer chuckled. To think my dear mother would bring up her son’s relationship first, she’s more open-minded than I thought — he thought.

“Either way, it’s a problem, isn’t it? If it’s mutual, it would be an issue of a commoner coveting a noble’s side. If it’s not, it would look like I’m forcibly taking advantage of my status. Mother, you could never condone such vulgar and coercive behavior.”

“Izer……”

“You granted Miss Berienne not just an outing but an overnight stay today. It seems you’re planning to send her away, Mother. Under the pretext of doing it for her sake.”

Renée’s shoulders flinched. Izer crossed his legs and leaned forward. Aware that his attitude looked more like the heir who had received the Chesterfield name rather than an obedient son.

“Miss Berienne needs money. Thanks to the generous salary the Duke promised, Miss Berienne can now take responsibility for both herself and her sister.”

“……”

“There’s no better job for her than my bed, Mother.”

The son treated the governess’s salary like a pr*stitute’s fee. Renée’s face turned pale.

“Izer, do you mean……”

“I mean that serving my nights is absolutely not a loss for that woman.”

Renée’s heart began to race. She felt a madness she had never seen before from her once proper son.

She retraced her memories. Had she ever seen Izer obsessed with someone? It was the first time, at least since he came to this house.

Renée’s memories went further back. To a time when she lived happily with David, when the three of them lived happily in a small house attached to the Berienne family’s villa…

At some point, her son had started coming home at dawn. It seemed to have lasted for only about two months. It was winter, so she worried he might catch a cold, but she didn’t want to nag her adult son about staying out overnight. She just thought he must be out late playing with friends.

Then one day. On a rare warm day, Renée, taking a walk near the villa, saw her son.

Her son was smiling at someone over the wall. She could hear the other person’s laughter too. She vaguely thought he must be fooling around with some maid.

It was then that her son’s smile, as bright and affectionate as the one he showed his mother, abruptly stopped. The other person seemed to have left first.

Though it was just a moment, Renée clearly witnessed it. The intense longing flickering in her son’s eyes as he gripped the bars. She must have been shocked to realize that the child from her womb could feel such emotions.

‘Could it be from before……’

Her gaze trembled uneasily as she watched her son, uncharacteristically rising from his seat before his mother.

Regardless of his mother’s gaze, Izer drew the curtains with a swish.

“It seems Miss Berienne has returned. She must not have had enough money for an overnight stay…… If she were to be driven out of this house, she’d be on the streets immediately. How pitiful.”

So please don’t think of driving that woman out, Mother.

His eyes, devoid of warmth, flickered. It was the same look Renée had seen in that moment in the past.

* * *

The room, so quiet when Izer was alone, filled with squelching sounds as soon as she entered.

“Ugh.”

The waist that had been weakly swaying on the sofa finally couldn’t endure and leaned forward.

But that didn’t stop the man’s actions. Whether she collapsed or not, Izer would thrust as long as the hole was in place.

A rough arm wrapped around the woman’s waist and pulled her back. As her back arched sharply, it hit a new stimulation point.

“Ahh!”

The hand gripping her chest roamed over her flesh and pinched a nipple.

As strength returned to her relaxed waist, her trembling insides tightened. Saliva dripped from her open mouth, but Celian, lost in pleasure, didn’t notice. The body heat pressing against her back was so hot it felt like it would burn everything away.

In the season that could be called early summer, sweat came more quickly thanks to the warming wind.

When Izer caressed her chest, the woman’s waist twisted. Moans flowed endlessly from her mouth.

“Hnngh, ngh”

“Ha, does it feel good?”

He felt resistance from the hand busy teasing her nipple. Having straightened her back, the arms that no longer needed to brace against the floor were pathetically trying to interfere with him. She enjoyed it so much when he touched her br*easts, yet she struggled to push his wrist away.

The movement against his will irritated him. Izer raised his free hand and grasped both her wrists behind her back.

“Tsk.”

Her restrained shoulders shuddered. She seemed to be crying. It was a frequent occurrence, and Izer didn’t need to pay attention to it.

As his actions became rougher, Celian started to beg. Her pleas to stop flowed as continuously as the fluids she was leaking below.

“Young Duke, please stop, stop……”

“Endure it.”

Once she came once, the frequency of reaching climax increased afterward. Her body tired as quickly as the cushion became damp.

Celian dropped her head. Red handprints remained on her ample br*easts. Even as she watched, the man’s right hand continuously moved, exploring the mounds of flesh. William’s words that it functioned almost normally were true.

The man’s teeth sank into the woman’s slumped shoulder.

“Hnngh!”

“You should answer properly.”

“Ugh, yes……”

This woman’s mouth and body moved separately. How could he stop when she was begging while tightly gripping him below? He had experienced many women, but none satisfied him like Celian.

The gardener’s son’s friends claimed that men are simple, and they like it when women strip and throw themselves at them. And indeed, they were like that.

But the young duke’s friends spoke of a more sophisticated pleasure.

According to them, a woman’s face and body weren’t everything. While lascivious flesh was important, a woman worth choosing as a mistress should be able to give a man ‘enjoyment’.

By that standard, Celian’s value was considerable.

It wasn’t that she amused him with her wit. She wasn’t docile either. Celian still didn’t like him, and she spread her legs reluctantly at his command.

Every time he told her to lie face down, she looked as if the world had ended. It was an expression that would make an ill-tempered pimp slap her cheek, asking how she expected to arouse a man with such a corpse-like complexion.

But it was enjoyable. Izer didn’t admit it, but this stemmed from the sense of achievement of finally possessing the woman he had desired.