Chapter 82

Chapter 82

The first thing that caught my eye was the brooch on the collar of the black shirt.

“What…?”

I groped my neck as I gazed at the brooch he had worn. There were the same pendants on each side that were identical to the necklace I wore, and a thin platinum string held them together.

Lucian, who had noticed my actions alone, curled his eyebrows.

“Are you ready?”

“Huh… I just finished.”

“Hmm.”

Only one side of his hair was raised, and he swept through it and looked at me carefully.

Slowly starting to scan my eyes to my toes, he smiled contentedly when he saw the rings, bracelets, and necklaces I was wearing, then glanced at my head and frowned softly.

“…Why?”

What was wrong?

It should be nothing. After all, Amber worked hard today…

…What was weird now?

Confused, I just tilted my head. Lucian turned and came behind me. With the back of the sofa in the middle, he seemed to be looking for something.

“Brother?”

“Lucian.”

Wow, I don’t think he ever gets tired of it. How long was he going to say this?

Still, there were other maids. Shouldn’t I call him his usual title? Nonetheless, he didn’t seem like it, so I exercised my right to remain silent. Well, he was not the only one who knew how not to answer? I could ignore him, too.

I turned my head to the side with a blank expression on my face.

“Hmm, luckily, I can’t see it?”

As Lucian mumbled, the breath of his mouth reached the nape of my neck.

Surprised, I shrugged my shoulders and Amber told Lucian.

“I covered it thoroughly with makeup today.”

“Good.”

The two of them simply finished talking about something I didn’t know, and Lucian pressed his fingertips just below my ear.

“There will be no fashion dolls today.”

“It’s not because I didn’t match the dress this time. Though is it really okay for me to wear the dress that the former Duchess wore?”

“What can’t be done?”

“Still, really…?”

“No problem at all, Ray.”

Suddenly, he came to my side and sat down next to me, avoiding my dress. He took my hand naturally and tapped the back of my hand with his finger. I slowly turned my gaze to face him.

Ah, my eyes…

My eyes.

He was so dazzling that my eyeballs were melting.

Crazy! I’m going crazy…!

How could such an appearance exist?

I sincerely wanted to roll my feet, but I couldn’t because I was afraid my dress would get wrinkled. It seemed that the buttons on the jacket he wore were all the same shape as the pendants on my necklace. He spoke first without asking about my persistent gaze.

“I heard that Grandfather loved Grandmother a lot.”

“Ah, so…”

Although I didn’t have very good feelings about the previous duke, it sounded a little different because he was Lucian’s grandfather.

There was no spot that wasn’t black from his belt to his toes. However, what made it look more gorgeous than any other color? Was it the effect of a large jewel, or was it because of Lucian’s appearance…?

On his chest, the Duchy’s emblem was embroidered in gold, and there was a badge I had never seen before. The insignia across his chest were also black, but the rims were tightly embroidered in silver and studded with small diamonds.

Anyway, from head to toe, there wasn’t a single place that wasn’t cool.

Lucian just smiled, despite the blatant glance. I didn’t know which one I like, but I honestly enjoyed it.

“Would you like a cup of iced tea?”

Then, Amber asked. I nodded my head lightly.

“Can I drink some cold tea?”

I asked first because I was afraid he would say no.

Lucian frowned for a moment, then replied, “Let’s drink hot tea instead of cold tea.”

“I’m a little thirsty…”

Even though I look imperial on the outside, I am Korean on the inside so I liked to drink cool water more. Even if it was early summer now, wasn’t it already summer?

“You can’t drink something warm at a banquet, so let’s drink something warm right now.”

Lucian spoke first as if reading my thoughts.

It was a strange thing to me, even if it didn’t seem like a big deal. In the past, I used to speak and recommend first as if I had read his thoughts. While now, he recommended it to me on the contrary. No one knew how great this was, even the maids here now.

“Then, I will prepare tea.”

Amber said and left, giving instructions to the other maids.

“Now that you’ve finished dressing up, you can go back.”

At Amber’s words, the maids glanced at Lucian, showing signs of regret. I was somewhat offended by their attitude… No, more precisely, jealousy. They acted like he didn’t exist before, but now that he was a duke, he looked different…?

I bit my lip slightly because I couldn’t say anything to the innocent maids.

The next moment, Lucian tapped my lips with his hard fingertips.

“Why are you biting your lips in pain?”

“…It’s not painful?”

“Still, don’t do it.”

“I know.”

I didn’t even know my heart, pouting my lips out of desperation.

Following that, I pushed his fingertips away with the shape of my lips. Lucian let out a small laugh and tucked my lips back in. I couldn’t lose, so I pushed out my lips again, but my lips were slightly opened, and his index finger came in between them.

Wow…! What a scare!

Although I was very surprised, I tried to pretend I wasn’t surprised and leaned back.

…But, why was the finger kept stuck between the lips? This was a bit embarrassing. I couldn’t step back any further to keep the dress and hair intact, so I was biting my lip in an awkward position. Suddenly, it dawned on me.

The dream in which he kissed me…

Wow! I must have really gone crazy. Even if my head goes wrong after getting sick, it must have gone completely wrong.

…Why do I keep thinking about that dream?

When I was spending time alone in my room, I would often think of that dream and I was very worried.

Did I see Lucian as a man? Did I like him…?

However, I had never had a heart for Lucian. He was just my bias, I never thought of what to do with him.

There was such a thing.

I have an idol I like, but I don’t want to have a relationship with that idol or want to get married. To me, Lucian was like an idol. So, I kept thinking about the dream that I couldn’t understand even though I had them.

Despite that, why did this happen to remind me of that dream…?

I couldn’t say anything, so my lips twitched, but he pushed in his finger a little more. The feeling of my hard teeth touching his fingertips gave me goosebumps.

“Huwaa!”

I opened my mouth wide in surprise.

Now, it didn’t matter whether it was the dress or the hairstyle. Thankfully, it wasn’t ruined because he put his hand firmly on my back and made sure I didn’t fall over.

“Don’t, don’t play around!”

I was so startled that I screamed at him. Meanwhile, Lucian just laughed at my screams with twinkling eyes between the narrowed eyes.

“Sorry, I just had an idea.”

I stared at him as he apologized indifferently.

…Was he smirking?

Our Lucian was just a big guy, but he was pure. It was a bit awkward. The person I know was a person who could only apologize and closed his mouth, but it seemed strange to me that he added a playful excuse after he apologized.

Finally, Amber came into the room with only tea and some really light refreshments. The refreshments were made to be bite sized so they weren’t very filling just by looking at it!

After all, if there was a banquet, you should be starving?

Having finished the soup and small bread in the morning, I pushed my lips out again. Lucian grabbed something like a little macaron and tapped my lips.

“Knock, knock, knock. The macarons are here.”

Ever since I was a child, whenever I fed him something, it felt like my cheeks were burning when I saw Lucian imitating the words and tones I said. It was embarrassing to see my younger brother imitate what I did, though it was awkward and very cute to see an adult man imitating a child’s tone of voice.

Crazy… So cute.

Also, the smiling eyes were so great that it felt like my mind would blow away…

I quickly took it.

It was the first time he had fed me directly, so I didn’t even think about giving it up. He smiled as he completely closed his already narrowed eyes, and we spent the rest of our time sipping hot tea and refreshments given to us.

It was always nice to be with him. When I was with Lucian, I could feel a sense of belonging because it felt like this was my place.

After a short tea time, we rearranged our clothes and prepared to move to the banquet hall.

Unusually, he also had an attendant with him, and he put the coat he was holding over his shoulder. Medals and various brooches that only a Duke with national achievement could have were hung like traces of history.

He, who rarely smiled except when I was with him, straightened his back with a numb face. Then, he said something to the attendant and turned his head to me.

I was speechless at the sight of him.

This was because the clothes he was wearing, his hairstyle, and his facial expressions were perfectly the same as those seen in the webtoon.