Chapter 4 – Seize (Part 9)

Only after being embraced by him several more times did Olivie collapse onto the bed, exhausted, burying her face in the pillow and falling into a deep sleep. Despite his offer to bathe her, she refused, claiming she was too tired, and fell asleep as she was. Stroking her hair, he chuckled softly at her peaceful, sleeping face.

Knowing her long-standing insomnia, he understood that sleep was more important than washing.

‘Isn’t she too defenseless?’

Unlike her, who slept peacefully, Robin glanced down at himself, still not calmed down, and tapped her nose lightly.

“Hm.”

Seeing her turn over with a frown, as if annoyed, he chuckled softly. He got up and soaked a towel with water. After wiping away the sticky traces between her legs that had bothered her all night, he gently stroked Olivie’s now more relaxed face.

‘Oh, right. Why are you so nice to me?’  

‘You said you would answer me.’  

‘Why do you do it?’

He recalled her voice, heavily laden with sleep, asking him. Brushing her disheveled hair back, he softly kissed her cheek and whispered something quietly in her ear. It was so quiet that it didn’t matter whether she heard it or not.

* * *

It was the dim light of dawn.

The sky, flickering as if the sun would rise soon, had a pale navy hue.

As Olivie blinked her sleepy eyes a little wider, she found the sky more beautiful than she expected.

‘Was the dawn always this beautiful?’

For Olivie, dawn always came with a hellish lethargy. Her eyelids felt unbearably heavy, and her body, unable to sleep properly, felt like it weighed a ton. The mornings she remembered were those where she greeted the dawn without being able to sleep, crushed by fatigue.

But

‘It’s beautiful.’

The sky she faced upon waking was more beautiful than she had thought. 

She couldn’t tell if it was because she had slept deeply and woken up with this feeling, or if the sky was particularly beautiful today. Either way, she felt good.

So much so that it was a shame it was getting brighter.

‘Will I be able to see it again?’

Olivie, looking at Robin’s arm wrapped around her from behind as he slept, fixed her gaze on the window. As if he feared she might run away, he held her tightly, his arm crossing diagonally from her waist to her stomach, pulling her deeply into his embrace.

His breath touched Olivie’s bare shoulder in a steady rhythm. As his breath blew softly and then faded, Olivie shivered slightly and bit her lip.

‘Ah.’

A sharp pain was felt. It seemed that her lips, bitten the previous day to suppress her moans, had burst from fatigue. 

Wasn’t it bleeding? 

She raised her hand and gently touched her lips. Somehow, they felt unusually swollen.

‘I’m crazy.’

With her eyes tightly closed, she pressed her forehead, recalling the previous day… no, just a few hours ago.

‘One more time.’  

‘Once more.’  

‘Quickly.’

Recalling her voice, pleading and clinging to him, Olivie lowered her hand from her forehead to cover her eyes. Maybe she should just run away like this.

She realized that it was comfortable that day because Robin wasn’t there. 

It must have been just as embarrassing then as it was today.

‘Seriously.’

Even if Robin thought of her as someone obsessed with s*x, she honestly didn’t have much to say in her defense. How many times had she pestered him?

Olivie, wiping her face with her hand, opened her eyes wide at the brightening sky. There was only one way.

‘Let’s run away.’

That day, she had run away without facing him, and after calming down a bit, it was as if nothing had happened when they met again.

‘It should be the same today.’

He was sleeping so deeply that he wouldn’t notice even if she carried him on her back. She carefully wriggled, trying to gently remove his hand that was wrapped around her stomach. She thought she could just lift his hand slightly and twist her body to slip out…

‘Hmm?’

But what was this hardening behind her b*ttocks? It had been quiet, but now…

As his presence became more pronounced, growing in size, Olivie’s body stiffened, and she involuntarily swallowed her breath. To her, frozen to the point of forgetting to breathe, he whispered softly.

“Breathe. I won’t eat you.”

His voice was rough, as if he had just woken up. 

The firm hand Olivie had tried so hard to remove slid down and wrapped around her stomach again. Pulling her deeply into his embrace, he rubbed his face against her shoulder, like an overly sensitive cat clinging to its owner.

The man who was said to be cold and aloof. 

Yes, the one who always made her feel like she should kneel and beg before him. 

That man was clinging to her back in a way she had never seen before.

‘Being like this, it’s almost like we’re lovers….’

“……”

Olivie inhaled, scattering the unfinished sentence in her mind.

Lovers? The absurdity made her almost laugh out loud. Just because they had been intimate twice, she thought they were like lovers.

She needed to wake up from this dream quickly. 

But unaware of Olivie’s confused thoughts, he lightly kissed her shoulder.

“Let’s wash up. Yesterday you were too tired, so I just wiped you with a towel.”

“……”

‘Wiped with a towel?’

Startled by his words, Olivie glanced down slightly. Of course, she couldn’t see below the blanket, but there was no stickiness felt between her thighs, where they were pressed together. This was an experience even Olivie had never had before.

‘Why is he really doing this?’

Olivie bit her lip.

She was grateful and excited by his kindness, but honestly, his behavior was dangerous. Even if she didn’t want to misunderstand, she kept getting her hopes up. Olivie turned her body to look up at him.

“Lord, did I do something wrong to you?”

“What?”

He blinked slowly as if he didn’t understand and stared at Olivie. His gaze seemed to ask for further explanation, causing Olivie to furrow her brow as well.

“Why are you doing this?”

“What?”

“Why…….”

It was a bit embarrassing to ask this question out loud. But it was something she had to address. Otherwise, she might misunderstand. So, pressing her slightly pounding heart with her clenched fist, she lowered her gaze slightly.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“…….”

As her questions continued, the wrinkles on his brow deepened like a fine line.

“How can being nice and doing something wrong be put in the same bowl?”

“Because you’re not a kind person, Lord.”

No sooner had Olivie’s words left her mouth than Robin let out a small laugh.

“Hmm, so that’s the impression I give.”

At his smile, as if he didn’t know, she too was taken aback and smiled back.

“It’s surprising you didn’t know.”

“I’m quite kind, actually.”

To whom?

Finally, Olivie looked up at him with her mouth slightly open, and he lightly pecked her parted lips before standing up. His hand also covered her shoulder with the blanket.

“Ask Emily.”

“Emily is at the Duke’s estate…… Don’t tell me Emily is coming to the capital?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

As Robin nodded, Olivie hurriedly tried to sit up, biting her lip at the end of her words. Before she could catch it, the sheet slipped down, fully exposing her n*ked body. The red marks he had left the previous day were clearly visible, prompting Olivie to hastily pull the sheet up.

“I’ve already seen everything.”

Turning around in a thin robe over his bare body, he walked toward the console. As if deliberately not looking back, he filled a glass with water placed on the console. She swallowed hard while glancing at her mottled chest, biting her lip inwardly.

Even though they had seen each other n*ked more than once, somehow, showing her bare body felt embarrassing, and her mouth went dry.

“Still, being embarrassed is being embarrassed.”

“Right.”

When Olivie spoke curtly, he chuckled and turned his body. His bare body, with the robe not properly fastened in front, was more exposed than hers. His bare chest, below his navel, and even that which was making its presence known between his legs.

‘Is he doing this on purpose?’

But she couldn’t help but drool over his attitude, which seemed to be nothing but boastful.

‘After crying so hard yesterday.’

Even though she felt like she might die accepting him, seeing his body made her wet, and Olivie turned her head in annoyance at herself.

“Drink.”

He handed her a glass of water as he came right up to her. Olivie cleared her throat as if to steady her voice and took the glass.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He smiled faintly at her playful voice and sat on the edge of the bed. The soft bed sank deeply under his weight. As she swallowed the water, she looked at him.

“So, Emily is…….”

“She’ll arrive soon. The Imperial banquet is a little over a month away.”

“That’s good……”

But before she could finish her sentence, he wiped the moisture from the corner of Olivie’s mouth with his thumb and met her gaze.

“So, let’s make our contract until the Imperial banquet.”