Chapter 17 (Part 2)

Noticing her reaction, Leonardo gently pulled her into his arms and asked,  

“Did something happen? Did your father scold you severely?”  

At his question, Grace suddenly remembered and grabbed him, accusing,  

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”  

Leonardo widened his eyes momentarily before smiling knowingly.  

His expression was so shamelessly confident that Grace couldn’t help but laugh.  

Shaking her head as if she had expected this, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulled him closer, and whispered in his ear,  

“So, did you sleep well alone?”  

With a subtle tone that seemed to carry a lot of meaning, Grace spoke. Leonardo, in turn, whispered into her ear,  

“I couldn’t sleep at all because it felt so empty without you.”  

“Well, I slept just fine.”  

Grace responded brightly, as if she had never whispered so subtly, and slapped his hand, which was lightly caressing her waist.  

“What’s that building outside? What is it?”  

Her hand movement was sharp, prompting Leonardo to lightly shake his hand and reply,  

“Didn’t Caleb tell you? It’s a new tower. Though it may not be in the shape of a tower.”  

“Did His Majesty approve it so easily?”  

No matter how good the intention, the Imperial Family couldn’t ignore the social implications.  

While they had always emphasized and even enforced harmony among groups, they had also turned a blind eye to the noise between various factions.  

After all, talking about it had never solved anything.  

“Yes. He even recommended someone suitable for me to take to the association.”  

“Hmm, then who’s the first member of the association?”  

Grace looked at Leonardo with a subtle gaze. Smiling softly, he stroked her hair and replied,  

“I’d like it to be you.”  

Grace blinked at his words, then responded with a face that seemed to say, “What nonsense are you spouting?”  

“No way.”  

“—Pardon?”  

Leonardo looked at her as if he had heard something completely unexpected.  

Grace frowned slightly and said,  

“I don’t want to take orders from you.”  

At her words, Leonardo stared at her as if he’d been hit on the back of the head.  

Seeing his shocked face, Grace grabbed his hand and pulled him to sit on the sofa. Then she brought over a chair and sat across from him.  

“I don’t want to follow behind you; I want to stand beside you.”  

“……”  

“I want us to always look at the same things from an equal position. But if I join the association, that won’t be possible.”  

Leonardo opened his mouth several times, wanting to refute her words, but he eventually closed it.  

She had a point.  

If the association were established and he became its head, Grace would naturally become his subordinate.  

In that case, they might not be able to work together as equals as they had done so far.  

‘But there can’t be two heads.’  

If they ended up in a relationship where he gave orders and she followed them, they wouldn’t be able to maintain the equal footing they currently shared.  

They wouldn’t be able to hunt monsters together as they used to, nor would he see Grace arguing back at him.  

Subordinates don’t defy their superiors.  

And that wouldn’t be the Grace Lowell he loved.  

“Leo, are you upset?”  

When Leonardo didn’t respond for a long time, Grace asked with a worried expression.  

Unable to answer her question, Leonardo turned his head slightly. Seeing this, Grace sighed and said,  

“They say that couples or lovers working in the same place often end up fighting. Do you want to fight with me?”  

Leonardo flinched at her words.  

They had already spent so much time fighting in the past; the thought of fighting even more was terrifying.  

Leonardo trembled slightly and looked at Grace with a hint of fear in his eyes as he asked,  

“So, are you planning to fight with me again?”  

Grace couldn’t help but burst into laughter at his face, which looked as if he were about to receive some terrible punishment.  

She scooted her chair closer, so their knees touched, placed her hand on his leg, and smiled.  

“After all the time we’ve already spent fighting, are you really scared of a little argument?”  

“You said you wouldn’t join the association because we might fight.”  

Leonardo replied with a face full of grievance, adding in a small voice,  

“I just don’t want to waste any more time fighting.”  

Hearing this, Grace grabbed his face and kissed him, as if she couldn’t hold back anymore.  

Leonardo didn’t know which part of his words prompted the kiss, but he accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.  

He placed Grace on his lap, savoring the affectionate gaze she directed at him.  

“Mm.”  

As the kiss deepened, their tongues intertwined, and the sensation of saliva spreading heightened the heat between them.  

Leonardo, who had been caressing her slender waist, buried his face in her neck and bit down.  

Feeling the hot breath and stinging sensation, Grace pulled back and grumbled,  

“You really like biting, don’t you?”  

Leonardo chuckled at her words. Then, he pressed down on the soft peak hidden beneath her uniform and said,  

“But you like it when I bite here more, Grace.”  

Despite the fabric covering it, he somehow managed to find her n*pple with precision, pressing down on it.  

The sensation made Grace clench her teeth to suppress a moan.  

Seeing her expression contort as she tried to hold back, Leonardo couldn’t help but feel his arousal grow.  

‘Damn it, I’m losing my mind.’  

He hadn’t intended for things to escalate like this, but now he couldn’t stop.  

Her flushed face, clenched jaw, and slightly furrowed brows were so endearing that he couldn’t resist.  

Leonardo slipped his hand under her shirt, caressing her smooth waist.  

“Or do you prefer it when I devour this part instead?”  

Grace couldn’t help but recall the times when Leonardo had kissed every inch of her body. She let out an involuntary moan and crossed her legs.  

Leonardo gently caressed his smooth abdomen and smiled faintly.  

“Oh my, I was just speaking casually… Could it be?”  

Leonardo deliberately paused and whispered into Grace’s ear.  

“Are you aroused?”  

“…Leo, you really!”  

The truth was, as soon as she recalled what he had been doing to her, Grace’s lower body tightened. Unable to say anything, she bit her lips hard and looked at him with a resentful expression.  

“Don’t do this. Already… because.”  

Her last words were so quiet, they were almost like a murmur to herself. Leonardo couldn’t hear what she said and asked again.  

“What did you say?”  

But Grace, thinking he was teasing her, raised her voice in frustration.  

“I’m holding back!”  

Caught off guard by her unexpected words, Leonardo hastily cast a soundproofing spell. Just in case someone might have heard her, that adorable voice of hers.  

‘That won’t do.’  

This lovable side of Grace was something he wanted to keep to himself. He had no intention of sharing it with anyone, even her family.  

Leonardo chuckled softly and took Grace’s hand, which was holding his face, and guided it below.  

“…Ah.”  

Feeling something hot and thick beneath her hand, Grace involuntarily looked at Leonardo, who maintained a calm expression.  

Seeing her trembling eyes, he smiled and said,  

“I’m not much different, you see.”  

As Leonardo implied he couldn’t blame her, Grace looked at him quietly and kissed him. While doing so, she subtly rubbed the restrained part of him over his pants.  

“Ugh, Gracie.”  

When Leonardo grabbed Grace’s hand, which was stroking him, and called her name as if to dissuade her, Grace ignored him, shifted her position, and climbed onto his lap.  

Trapped between Grace’s legs, Leonardo swallowed nervously, feeling tension rise.  

“There are people outside.”  

As if to suggest this wasn’t right, Leonardo spoke, but Grace responded with a smile.  

“That’s true, isn’t it?”  

With those words, the neatly pressed knight order uniform that Becky had diligently ironed that morning was carelessly crumpled and fell to the floor.  

Now in just a thin shirt, Grace looked at him and said,  

“So, are you saying no right now?”  

She added, “When you’re already like this,” while pressing firmly on the part of him that was restrained and throbbing.  

Leonardo, who had already been restraining himself from laying Grace down on the sofa, raised an eyebrow slightly.  

“How do you think I feel, holding back like this, and yet you say that?”  

“Well, I don’t know. Leo, you’re the one holding back, not me, right?”  

Saying so, Grace playfully nibbled at Leonardo’s neck with her lips. Not stopping there, she licked his ear with her tongue and lightly bit it with her teeth.  

When her hot breath touched his ear, Leonardo flinched, his shoulders trembling. Grace, seeing his ears turn red, laughed softly and slipped her hand inside his shirt, whispering,  

“So, do you dislike it?”  

When Grace added, “I can do well,” Leonardo pulled one corner of his mouth into a smile. Really, she never gave him a moment of boredom.  

Leonardo, secretly casting a cleansing spell, gritted his teeth and said,  

“Of course not.”  

Grace smiled as if she had been waiting for those words.