Ch 20.
What on earth is happening right now? There was no time to think about such things.
Only the fact that the firm body supporting her instead of her own belonged to a man was vivid. She could feel that the hand fumbling around her waist wanted her more passionately than anyone else.
Everything was perfect, except for something that kept annoying her by poking around her waist. She didn’t even have the leisure to think about such trivial things as where she was right now or who she was with.
Hot body temperature invaded Elisa’s mouth. The saliva passing over along with the breath was nothing but sweet. It wasn’t rough, but Elisa couldn’t snap out of it at the kiss that continued persistently as if marking territory.
It felt like her whole body was burning up. Elisa wrapped her arms around his neck. She wanted to be closer, even closer. She didn’t want to leave even a single gap between the two of them.
And it seemed it was the same for the other party. More and more strength went into his arms that enfolded Elisa’s waist. Especially every time his tongue touched the soft inside of Elisa’s mouth. As if he couldn’t endure it without doing so, he tried to devour Elisa by tightening his hold on her with all his might.
Her breath rushed right up to the tip of her throat as if she had run at full speed in the breath taken and given from each other. Detaching herself from that man to breathe was an action close to instinct.
Into Elisa’s field of vision came sharp eyes embedded with irises like red rubies. Beneath the neatly swept-back black hair, a smoothly revealed forehead and a high, sharp bridge of the nose were also visible.
And finally, even the thin lips that she had been biting and sucking until just now.
Her ears were deafened as if she had been hit with cold water.
A lump of tumultuous noise rushed in from far away. It was no exaggeration to say that every single person inside the hall was looking only at this floor.
Among them were the Queen and her father looking this way with satisfied expressions, and there was also her half-sister making an expression that she was resentful and had been outmaneuvered.
And finally, the man in front of her came into Elisa’s eyes.
Thin double eyelids, long eyelashes, and the intense red eyes inside them.
Everything was exactly the same. It felt like returning to those days back then, when she used to make a habit of having that wretched illusion that Adrian Oberon had let only her in, to the point of not letting other people in.
Only then did Elisa realize what on earth she had done.
She had to run away. Before it was too late. Before something more terrible happened than Adrian making a money bet over her.
As if Elisa’s thoughts could be read plainly, Adrian put strength into his arms that were winding around her waist so that the muscles rose firmly.
So that she could not escape from him by even a single step.
“Good job, Elisa. Keep doing it like that from now on.”
Adrian said so and smiled brightly. He extended his arm and brought his hand over her head. Then, he began to stroke Elisa’s hair.
As if coaxing a young child.
“Shut up. You son of a bitch.”
Elisa glared up and struck his chest with her fist, but Adrian did not budge. Damnably, he didn’t even bat an eyebrow.
“You shouldn’t go down alone like this, Elisa.”
“I told you to shut up.”
“Shouldn’t we act until the end? Stay nestled quietly.”
“What did you just-”
Adrian did not even give Elisa time to finish her words and lifted her right up in his arms. In front of everyone, Elisa could not even leave the floor on her own feet and stayed held in Adrian’s embrace in a shameful posture.
“Put me down right now.”
Elisa grit her teeth and growled lowly at Adrian, but Adrian, as if he couldn’t hear, began to walk while holding her up like a princess.
Annoyingly, even a smile was lingering on that sleek face. He was truly enjoying this situation where Elisa felt ashamed.
As soon as he went down the floor, he stood in front of the Queen, who was talking about the political situation with the nobles. Still without putting Elisa down on the floor.
Elisa really wanted to bite her tongue and just die.
“My fiancée is injured. It seems the shoes are uncomfortable, after all.”
He said so and pointed with the tip of his chin at Elisa’s left foot, where blood had slightly shown through.
“Since I cannot worsen my fiancée’s wound any further, it seems difficult to remain present any longer than this. Please forgive the rudeness. We shall head up first now.”
Adrian, as if the Queen’s answer was not important at all, half-listened and headed toward the second floor taking her along.
As if he was truly worried to death about her wound.
Elisa was a little dumbfounded.
The feeling was like trash, but she had to admit it. Adrian Oberon was much better at acting than Elisa.
Of course, there would never be a day in her life when Elisa would bring this thought out of her mouth in front of Adrian, even if she died.
“Can’t you put this down?”
“If you walk, it will bleed again.”
“I don’t care. I told you to put me down.”
He was making a fuss over just a slightly scraped foot. Being hurt more greatly than this by the guns and swords of pirates was a common occurrence too.
In the first place, Elisa didn’t even know her foot was scraped and blood had soaked into the shoe!
“Wait. Because people are still looking only at you.”
It was nonsense without any logic. In the first place, if Adrian hadn’t been holding her up in his arms, nobody would have been looking at her.
On the way up to the upper floor of the passenger ship, Adrian made eye contact with everyone he encountered and explained this ridiculous situation.
My fiancée’s foot is wounded, so we are going up first. I must be together with her too. I will see you again later.
Adrian’s acting, playing a man fallen in love, was absolutely perfect.
Only after entering inside the private room did Adrian put Elisa down. Even during that, gently, as if he hadn’t forgotten the affectionate and delicate fiancé acting.
As if that wasn’t enough, Adrian even knelt at Elisa’s feet and uninvitedly took off her shoes himself with a careful touch.
And, throughout that strange thing he was doing, a faint smile was hanging on Adrian’s mouth. Probably no one except Elisa would have noticed it. Since there could not possibly exist another person in this world who hated seeing Adrian looking pleased as much as Elisa did.
“You look pleased?”
“Is there any reason not to be? I was together with my fiancée all day long.”
“Why? Did you perhaps place a money bet on your fiancée again? Where did you bet? Did you bet this time that the fiancée would kiss you?”
In the end, Elisa threw away all the acting and masks.
Throwing away even all her pride. She ridiculed herself like that.
She thought she could act as if nothing had happened. She had to. She wanted to say with her whole body that you can no longer exert any influence on me.
Because both the ball at the academy and the kiss on the floor just now would be nothing more or less than a momentary amusement to Adrian.
Adrian was reflected in Elisa’s eyes, which were full of venom. Adrian looked into Elisa’s golden eyes, which were shining brilliantly as if she wanted to kill him, and then pressed his lips tight.
“Treat it first.”
“Answer first.”
However, Adrian, ignoring Elisa as if he couldn’t even hear her words, brought a clean towel and began to wipe the wounded foot.
Unable to watch any longer the sight of him continuing that deceitful acting even inside the room where there were only the two of them, Elisa snatched the towel from Adrian’s hand and threw it at the wall.
“I don’t need it, so take your hands off my body.”
Elisa found her shoes that Adrian had taken off and began to thread her feet back in. Rather than her stinging foot, this situation where she had to be alone with Adrian was more uncomfortable.
It was just when Elisa was blindly trying to open the room door, without even deciding where to go. Adrian’s lowly suppressed voice blocked Elisa’s footsteps.
“And if I say it’s not, will you even believe me?”
“What is not? Oh, I suppose you didn’t place a bet on this fiancée?”
“Both.”
“What?”
“I have never placed money even on that girl to whom I requested to be partners during the military academy ball.”
At the far too shocking statement, her mouth would not open. Elisa froze on that spot and stared intently at Adrian. She had to find out whether his words were the truth or not.
However, Adrian, as if mocking such an Elisa, opened his mouth with the corners of his lips raised crookedly.
“If I speak like this, will you believe my words?”
The nerve cord that had been pulled taut snapped in vain.
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