Sometimes when a black shadow quickly passed by, she wondered if it was the clouds splitting.

As the trembling on her shoulder gradually subsided, this time Rudfelix’s hot breath tickled her nape.

“I always just looked at your hands holding the pen. You were someone I shouldn’t touch, so I could only look, but I kept feeling thirsty.”

“If looking at just hands made you thirsty, do you diligently drink water each time?”

That’s really unusual, isn’t it? Elena was about to say but firmly closed her lips again.

‘I can’t falter here.’

Since the Grand Duke was present, no one would likely come, but it wasn’t a place where entry was blocked.

Her ears felt like they would melt from his sweet words, but if he proceeded further, Elena didn’t have confidence she could stop him.

“It wasn’t water I wanted, but to satisfy my thirst by touching your hands.”

Rudfelix took Elena’s hand that had covered her lips and intertwined his fingers with hers.

As his firm fingers found their place between each of Elena’s fingers, the restraint she had built so solidly crumbled like a sand castle.

‘Looking at me with such a face……’

She didn’t want to pull her hand away, so captivated by Rudfelix’s atmosphere. It was hard to believe this was the same person who had blocked Marquis Emeth’s sword and acted like an iron wall just moments ago.

As the Grand Duke, he was a perfectly elegant nobleman without compare, but……

‘When he throws off that Grand Duke persona, he becomes such a sensual person.’

Hot breath flowed from his parted lips, and his downcast eyes were filled with desire. With her captured hand losing strength, Elena was being led exactly as he guided.

“Is your thirst quenched now that you’re touching me?”

“No.”

Though he said he wanted to touch when he saw her hands, his answer was again negative. Elena turned her head wanting to see his face but regretted it. How could she push away someone emitting such intensely strong pheromones?

“Now that I’m touching you, I feel an even greater thirst. Not just your hands, but I want to touch all of you.”

“Your greed knows no bounds.”

Elena smiled as she countered his words.

“I want to be the only one who knows the sensitive spots on your body, and I want to spend intense nights with you every day.”

She knew that even though they had already spent such deep nights together, it wasn’t enough for him. Listening to his words made her body keep trying to slide down the wall.

From the moment their eyes met, Elena’s mind went blank, unable to think of any playful remarks she wanted to make. Finally, Elena lowered her eyes, turned her head to the side, and steadied her breathing. Soon, Rudfelix’s excited breath entered, making her body even hotter than before.

“Do you hate me being like this?”

Rudfelix asked if she disliked him wanting to touch and feel her. He simply wanted confirmation from Elena. Therefore, he threw an insistent gaze at her, demanding her answer.

“Haa. I don’t hate it. I like it so much it drives me crazy. That’s why I keep wanting more.”

Elena confessed her true feelings with her eyes closed.

“I keep feeling possessive. I want to have you, Alix.”

Elena stood on her tiptoes and stretched her neck. She lifted her head and kissed him.

The fact that they were in a garden no longer mattered.

‘I’ve even left his room when the sun was high in the sky, so this is nothing.’

More than that, she would regret missing an opportunity to kiss Rudfelix.

Setting aside reason and following desire.

Rudfelix’s tightly closed lips welcomed Elena. His strangely sensual lips rubbed between Elena’s lips, lightly separating and rejoining repeatedly. Then he parted his lips, sucked in her lips, bit them gently without causing pain, and tasted them with his tongue.

Elena initiated the kiss, but Rudfelix’s quick response changed the lead.

“Your lips are dry.”

His tongue slowly licked her lips. Then it wedged between Elena’s lips and stirred inside her mouth.

“Hah.”

Elena’s m*an encouraged Rudfelix’s movements.

As Rudfelix’s tongue tried to delve even deeper, Elena, trapped between the wall and Rudfelix, had no choice but to accept it.

With her head tilted far back, her small lips opened wide. Elena was defenseless against Rudfelix’s uninhibited moving tongue. Despite her earlier words about possessing him, she was busy responding to and following his stimulation. When the stimulation built up and pleasure rose, Elena felt a strong thrill not from her lips but from elsewhere.

“Wait? Ouch.”

Elena let out a sharp m*an at the strong grip on her br*ast. Partly because it was held in his large hand, but also because her body had become sensitive, making her feel it more intensely.

Not only her lips, but from her shoulders to her br*asts and below, Elena couldn’t let her guard down anywhere Rudfelix’s hands touched. When his fingertips traced her spine, Elena leaned against him completely and only released sensual m*ans.

“Haa, I should stop here.”

Just before the last thread of reason snapped, Rudfelix made a regretful sound. He wanted to embrace Elena fully right there.

“Sleep in my room from now on.”

As if he wouldn’t let her go otherwise, Rudfelix still had Elena trapped. Instead of restraining his desire to taste her reddened lips again, he buried his lips in her slender, white nape.

Under his wet, sensual lips, Elena seemed to melt, unable to support her body alone. If Rudfelix’s arms hadn’t been holding and supporting her waist, she would have collapsed to the floor.

“Haa, but I can’t stay in your room all the time.”

“If you’re uncomfortable because of other people, I can expand the mansion. I’ll have a separate place made just for the two of us.”

Thinking Elena had refused because she was concerned about the previous grand ducal couple, he quickly offered an alternative.

“That’s not it.”

Elena looked up at Rudfelix while still struggling to catch her breath.

“I’m afraid I’ll be so intoxicated by you that I’ll just wander around dreamily and won’t be able to work.”

Because of you, who emits a scent stronger than alcohol.

“I need time to work too.”

***

Elena was able to escape from Rudfelix’s embrace because she had work to finish today.

Still, since he had firmly instructed her to sleep beside him at night, Elena hurried her steps.

“I need to check my schedule and plan my movements by today. If I bring work into the room, I definitely won’t be able to do it.”

So she promised Rudfelix she wouldn’t be home later than midnight.

“How much time do I have?”

Since her working time was now limited, she needed to prioritize tasks. While considering this in her mind as she walked, Roina entered Elena’s field of vision.

“Roina.”

Encountering each other by chance, Roina also looked at Elena in surprise.

Though it was called a reception room, it was a rarely used room. Roina, who had been slightly opening the door there, greeted Elena first with a faint smile.

“It’s late, but you’re still up.”

Elena also nodded to Roina and recalled the expression she had just seen on Roina’s face.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Just……”

Roina mumbled, unable to continue her words properly. Though Elena was busy with her own work, she was more concerned about the melancholy look in Roina’s eyes as she was lost in thought.

Eventually, Elena sat down beside her.

“I heard you hadn’t been seen since returning from the valley. You were here?”

“It’s a place where people rarely pass by. Oh, I received permission to use it.”

The good girl even added an innocent explanation that she hadn’t misused someone else’s space.

“You can go to a better place.”

Though Elena wasn’t the owner of this house, Rudfelix wasn’t stingy with what he had.

“No. This place is comfortable and nice.”

In a place where only the weak light of candles provided illumination, Roina wore a bitter smile.

For her, who should be living as a beloved young lady, to have worries……

Elena hadn’t seduced Roina’s man and was meeting him according to fate, so she didn’t know what was troubling Roina.

“I think I still don’t understand love well.”

Perhaps Roina had been frustrated from thinking alone for so long, as she awkwardly brought up an ambiguous statement. Then, not knowing that Elena knew her well, she continued her story.

“I thought that when coincidences keep happening, it’s fate.”

When Elena nodded, her clothes rustled, conveying the movement to Roina. She smiled as if finding Elena, who was listening to her words, cute.

“So I believed. I waited for the day when someone would see me completely, and I had fluttering days thinking I might even receive a confession.”

Roina’s bright voice was gradually darkening.

Saying that wasn’t it, Roina closed her mouth for a moment.

Elena wanted to prevent this from becoming an emotional wound for Roina. So while she was considering what to say, a gust of wind seemed to enter from somewhere, and the candle went out.

Elena thought the surroundings had become pitch black to the point where she couldn’t distinguish anything. As it became so dark that there was no difference between having her eyes open or closed, she grabbed Roina’s hand. Strangely, anxiety quietly rose in a corner of her heart, so she intended to take Roina out.

“We should leave, Roina?”

When she tried to pull Roina, there was no movement at all. Either someone was holding Roina back, or Roina was resisting with force. Since it was difficult to see Roina’s condition until her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Elena just pulled harder.

“Roina, it’s dark……”

With a strong impact to her nape, Elena lost consciousness.

The Grand Duke’s mansion at midnight was as brightly lit as midday. And inside, the sounds of people moving busily continued without pause.

“Still haven’t found her?”

At Rudfelix’s cold question, Quiet couldn’t speak.

“We’ve looked in every corner, but it seems she’s not in the mansion.”

As Elena’s whereabouts became mysterious, Rudfelix’s atmosphere sank to a chilling degree.