Chapter 116

How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 116. Gruti (1)

Her eyes grew very wide at the sudden question. Raphael had said he understood when they discussed it earlier, so why was he behaving like this now? But as he leaned back against the wall beside her dressing table, he looked strangely disconsolate.

“Why don’t you want me to go visit Celestine?” she asked curiously.

“Well…I don’t trust them very much. You could be in danger,” Raphael replied bluntly, raking back his damp black hair. Silently, he bent down to kiss her white forehead. His deep blue eyes gleamed like jewels as he looked down at her.

“Don’t go, Annette,” he whispered, as if the sight of her alone captivated him. “Stay here.”

It wasn’t easy for him to tell her to stay with him. His hands felt as if they had developed an obsession of their own, reaching to cover her hand, insistent and cunning as spiders, capturing their prey. Annette blinked at him, and then smiled.

“Oh, are you worried you won’t be able to sleep tonight? I bought something for you.”

Reaching into her dressing table, she withdrew a small present, and Raphael reluctantly relinquished her other hand to accept it. He unwrapped the silver paper to reveal a small music box.

“What is this?” He looked at it with disgust. The black silk box was decorated in gold, and looked quite expensive, but it was not a gift for a grown man. Looking down at the tiny object, half the size of his palm, he frowned.

“Open it,” Annette ordered cheerfully, noting the reaction. “Go ahead.”

It was impossible to disobey her when she smiled at him like that. Sighing, he opened the lid of the box with his fingertips, and a familiar melody tinkled from within. Raphael’s eyebrows lifted, his face sombering. The song sounded familiar, and he struggled to place it for a moment.

“This is…the song you hum sometimes, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It’s a lullaby.”

Annette’s lashes lowered, hiding her eyes at a sudden wave of complicated feelings. If she left for Osland, she would be leaving Raphael alone. Every night, he would have nightmares again. She would not be here to use her gift to put him to sleep, so she had had this made for him, instead. But she could not put her magic into the music box.

It wouldn’t have much effect. But she wanted to do at least this much for him.

Poor man.

Her eyes clouded over, concealed by her lashes as if she might start crying. The bare thought of leaving him made her heart ache.

Had it been made that way intentionally?

Gently, he brushed the figure, only half the size of his index finger.

“Do you like it?” Annette asked quietly.

“Yes. Thank you.”

He closed the music box with unusual care, at odds with his generally rough demeanor. He was happy that she had thought to give him a gift, but also suspicious as to her motives. It frightened him. Why was she giving him a music box, when she was there to sing lullabies herself?

It was as if she was going away somewhere.

Setting the box on the dresser, Raphael tried to hide his anxiety, hastily catching Annette’s chin to kiss her. It was a faint kiss at first, as if it were only a kiss of greeting, but as his uneasiness rose, the kiss grew hungrier, as if he were going to swallow her. His hand held her delicate neck tightly.

Annette gasped, half-stunned from the sudden fury of his kiss. The tip of his tongue curled into her soft mouth, his lips attacking her from every angle. The kiss…was as if he had feelings for her.

For a moment, she almost forgot everything else. But then she hurriedly pushed at his shoulders, and Raphael reluctantly licked his lips, looking dissatisfied. Her lips were so tempting. It was so hard to say goodbye to them.