Chapter 79 . I Thought You Weren’t Coming
Late at night.
While everyone was asleep, Deborah was still awake.
Just like in recent days, it wasn’t exactly that she couldn’t fall asleep.
The reason was due to the Duke’s words from a few hours earlier.
—Come tonight.
Recalling the voice that whispered low and deep, tainted with emotion, she felt a subtle trembling deep in her abdomen.
A few hours ago, the man who had promised to simply hold her until her strength returned eventually broke that promise.
The kiss, which had started like a light brush of lips, gradually intensified until it exploded fiercely around her neck.
If Deborah hadn’t desperately blocked his hand from undoing her buttons again, leaving that terrace might have taken until the dead of night.
With eyes blazing with dark blue flames, the man told her he would wait and asked her to come to his bedroom at night.
The gently spoken request was not a forceful demand, but the burning heat transmitted through their joined skin eventually made her nod.
“…”
Truthfully, the feeling of anxiety and hesitation remained the same.
That was a separate, completely different matter from accepting the man.
An unstable situation and an uncertain relationship.
There was nothing clear about how far this relationship, which had ultimately begun, could go, or what kind of ending awaited them at its conclusion.
That was why she had struggled so hard, fighting against it all this time…
But in the end, it had come to this.
Yet, perhaps she herself had somewhat expected it.
As long as he didn’t turn his back on her first, she would never be able to completely reject the hand the man offered.
The realization that she had been struggling alone despite the answer being decided made her feel foolish, and a wry laugh escaped her.
“Ugh… No, I didn’t steal and eat that…”
Deborah flinched at the sudden sound of a voice.
She lifted her head slightly and saw that Hanna seemed to be talking in her sleep again.
My, she is loud.
Deborah chuckled, got off her bed, and walked over to Hannah’s bedside.
She picked up the blanket that had fallen to the floor underneath, and carefully covered Hanna with it.
She watched the girl mumble continuously, curious about what she had so much to say even while asleep, and then her gaze slowly turned toward the door.
—I’ll wait until you come.
“…”
It wasn’t just because he was waiting.
In fact, her decision had been made a long time ago.
Deborah took a deep breath, and with a relieved expression, walked decisively toward the door.
It was a very calm night, without stars or a moon.
“…”
Her raised hand paused momentarily in the air.
She wasn’t hesitating because she had already made up her mind to come.
Rather, the situation of coming to his bedroom and knocking on his door in the middle of the night felt a little awkward, perhaps embarrassing.
Come to think of it, she had never been the one to initiate a move, which made it feel even more unnatural.
She simply clenched and unclenched her fingers needlessly.
‘Seriously, what am I doing after coming all this way?’
After much hesitation, the thought suddenly struck her.
Just as Deborah drew a big breath and was about to finally knock on the door—
Click—
The door opened from the inside, and the sight of the man who emerged left her momentarily dumbfounded.
Her wide-open eyes blinked in surprise, and the man’s expression as he stared intently at her seemed somehow odd.
What she meant was that he looked somewhat hurried, or perhaps anxious…
The silence grew awkward, and Deborah found herself involuntarily parting her lips.
The question she intended to ask—why did you come out—never left her mouth.
Thump—
With the sound of the heavy door closing, Deborah’s body was immediately pulled into the room.
Ah, the brief gasp that escaped her was swallowed deep in her throat by the urgent press of his lips.
“J-just a moment… Ah…”
She hadn’t specifically intended to refuse, but her surprise made her turn her head away.
She was startled by the incredibly hasty touch, and the man’s silence made her heart uneasy.
The atmosphere quieted briefly, and she thought he, too, had calmed down a bit.
Just as she was about to turn her head back, his hot breath touched her exposed neck.
A sharp jolt of electricity rushed down her spine, and a ragged breath escaped Deborah’s lips.
Oh, I should stop him… Mwah, mwah.
Even though she thought she should stop the man’s actions, the heat that was slowly creeping up her neck made it impossible to regain her composure.
After a long kiss, he buried his head in her head and suddenly grabbed her hips and tried to lift her body.
Startled, Deborah finally stretched her hands out in front of her.
The force of her momentary push separated the distance between them by two or three spans, and through the gap, the rapid breathing of both of them quickly fell away.
“Before we do anything… I want to talk first.”
“…”
Frustrated by the man’s continued silence, Deborah pressed him with more questions.
“Please tell me… what you are angry about.”
She racked her brain, but it seemed the man was indeed angry.
That was the only explanation for why the man, who was always so relaxed and affectionate, was suddenly acting frighteningly without a reason.
But if he was angry, she couldn’t figure out why, or what on earth had happened during that short time, no matter how much she thought about it.
Even after asking this, the only answer was still silence.
Deborah slowly raised her hand and gently cupped the man’s cheek, which was shrouded in darkness.
“Will we keep… being like this?”
As she whispered softly and stroked his cheek, the man’s shoulders trembled slightly.
The man, who had stood motionless for a long time, slowly raised his hand and gently wrapped it around Deborah’s hair.
And then, a soft kiss landed on her forehead.
With the calm movement of his lips meeting hers, Deborah finally realized that the man had returned to the self she knew.
The ticklish sensation that lingered on her forehead slowly descended lower.
“I thought you weren’t coming…”
“…”
“I waited, and waited, but you didn’t come. I wondered if I was going to regret it again, like last time.”
Deborah’s eyes slowly closed as his lips rested on her eyelids.
The soft touch of his lips on her closed eyes felt like the spring sunlight that gently tickled her face on a warm day.
“Then, what should I do now? What should I do next? …And then I just got angrier and angrier.”
“…”
Despite the short, fragmented sentences, Deborah somehow understood the anxiety the man had felt.
The night they first thought their hearts had connected, only a few hours after that passionate time, what he received in return was the other person’s cold reaction.
Since then, they had been in that state until now, and perhaps the events of today automatically brought back the memory of that time.
Waiting for her, who didn’t come, he must have replayed that moment over and over again.
And that’s why he got angry.
Deborah could only surmise the man’s anxiety and frustration in this way.
The kiss that started on her forehead finally concluded on her lips.
As their lips gently touched and separated, their scents subtly began to mingle.
“I was going to come.”
“…”
“But… the friend I share a room with was awake late tonight.”
“…”
“I just laid down for a minute and… fell asleep.”
If she had known this would happen, she would have come earlier.
She should have confirmed that Hanna was asleep and come right away.
That regret kept swirling in her heart.
After listening quietly to what Deborah was saying for a while, the man suddenly spoke, as if spitting out the words.
“Whoever she is, I’ll have to tell them to make her work more. So she falls asleep earlier.”
“…Excuse me?”
Deborah’s eyes went wide, wondering if he was joking, if that was some kind of ridiculous thing to say.
But the subsequent smooth curve of his lips made her realize it was just a silly joke he had made.
A faint laugh escaped her lips involuntarily.
Being like this, all the worries she had carried on her way here suddenly felt meaningless.
Of course, neither Deborah nor anyone else knew what the road ahead might hold.
Even if this choice eventually led to greater regret, or even if she incurred irreparable emotional scars because of it.
She could no longer push away the man right in front of her.
They say life is frightening because one cannot know anything, but right now, at this very moment, she could be certain of one thing.
That this instant she was sharing with the man would be the most radiant moment of her life.
And that it was starting right now, from this very moment.
After smiling at each other for a long time, the man suddenly lifted Deborah’s body high up.
The moonlight softly permeated the space behind him as he walked decisively toward the bed.
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