Chapter 97

Chapter 97

“Was it a little too much…”

“What?”

One of the aides reflexively responded to his small mutter, and as soon as their eyes met Lucian, he averted his gaze.

The aide was very afraid of the duke he served.

Rather than his numb face, he was more instinctively fearful, overwhelmed by the Duke Ambitious when he was first elected as an assistant to the duke, he once asked the employees of the mansion about Lucian’s taste and personality.

At that time, he remembered the words of Lucian’s dedicated attendant.

[ He was a person whom I had a hard time knowing what he was thinking since he was young. At that time, all the employees would avoid the Duke. Sometimes, people who didn’t know their place acted recklessly towards the Duke, but I don’t understand why they did that. ]

Now, stories about the Duke’s childhood are famous.

As he was the heir hated by the previous Duke, everyone knew about it. Then, of course, there must have been those who ignored him. Even if they were just an employee, they must have looked down on such a master.

Though why did the dedicated attendant say that he did not understand Lucian…?

However, he was acutely sympathetic to the words of the current attendant. When he met his inorganic eyes like metal, it seemed that his inner self underneath was exposed. His primal fears were easily inflated. In addition, Lucian was so ambitious that he wondered if he was really a quiet person when he was young.

And, above all…

The Duke did not tolerate touching his own.

Exactly as it said. He had no tolerance when it came to the lady in this mansion that he thought was his. Like a man with no intention to back down, he was meticulous about her and wanted to protect her in a double or triple way.

None of those in the office didn’t now know how much the Duke loved her.

The aide bowed his head towards the Duke, who stared at him with expressionless eyes and without a word. He knew the best way to get out of this suffocating situation.

“Isn’t it usually time to have tea time with the Lady?”

“…Is it time already?”

“Yes. How about going for a while? You haven’t rested since morning.”

“Hmm… I guess so.”

Lucian got up from his seat without a second thought. He quickly left the office and remembered Rachel, who was now resting in her room. Covering her lips with both hands, he couldn’t get her to move together on schedule.

“It was too bad.”

If he was still holding it in, would she be shocked?

If he put his lips on her all day and he wanted to breathe through her, would she be annoyed and disgusted by her like last time…?

Even though her lips were sore and he was irritated with the tears in her eyes, it was difficult because it just looked like a lovely grunt to him. Rather, it could be said that he wanted to kiss her sore lips again and ask for forgiveness.

Lucian rushed to Rachel’s room and knocked on the door at their own signal.

Tatptap, tap, taptaptap.

He waited, as usual, for Rachel to come out. It was his favorite time. It was always pleasant to see her running towards him.

Although today, there was no response.

He could definitely feel a presence, though when there was no noticeable reaction, he got a little worried. Lucian, who hurriedly opened the door and entered, found her sleeping on the sofa. However, Rachel was not alone—there were beasts inside her sleeping arms, one each.

Seeing that, his eyes sank deeply as he saw Oscar and Damien sleeping with a relaxed look as if they had found their place.

Why was there always someone by her side?

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand the feelings of those around her. As one of the people around her, he could fully sympathize with their feelings, although he couldn’t tolerate it.

Lucian approached her without making a sound and stared at the pure white fox that was exhaling his breath.

While Damien was annoying, Oscar was particularly annoying. It may be because of his lax attitude, but there was a part that was more annoying than that.

…It was the fox’s eyes looking at Rachel.

Every time Lucian looked at those red eyes that showed a strange obsession with what was his, he would feel the urge to dig them out. If it wasn’t for him being Rachel’s favorite subordinate, he might have killed him right away. Still, he didn’t want to see Rachel sad.

The next moment, he grabbed the fox and hawk by the neck.

“Kiing!”

“Krr!”

After squeezing their neck firmly, he took the two of them to the window, opened the window, and threw them out.

“Kiing, Kiing!”

“….”

The hawk, which had fallen and soared rapidly upward, flew into the air, flapping its wings. Meanwhile, The white fox swiftly stepped on the garden tree and landed softly on the floor.

Lucian, who watched the scene, clicked his tongue in offense.

“Ung… Brother?”

He didn’t know if she woke up because of the hot air, or whether it was because he chased away the shapeshifters that she loved.

“Ray.”

Rachel’s body trembled reflexively at the low-pitched voice. It was a tremor from anticipation, not a tremor from fear. As she became increasingly accustomed to him, she unwittingly swallowed a gulp.

Staring intently at the slowly approaching Lucian, Rachel tried to get her body up.

“Shh, it’s okay. Lie down.”

“But…”

She tried to get up despite his persuasion, but she couldn’t. Unconsciously, he reached in front of her and gently pressed her shoulder. Rachel hurriedly grasped the situation a little too late and covered her own lips with her hands.

“Can you see the ointment applied? It still hurts!”

Saying so, she tried to divert the attention by having her mouth covered, as it was Lucian who had tormented her lips to burst whenever she called him brother.

“Is it this time already? I think I fell asleep for a while…”

Lucian thought she was cute as she was desperately trying to turn the words around. It was cute because she knew what he was going to do. He draped his hips lightly at the end of the couch where she was lying and took the hand covering her lips.

“Uh, I said it was still sick.”

“You should still be punished, Ray.”

“It’s because I had been sleeping. When I wake up, brother… uhp!”

Because of the still unchanging title, Rachel always lost her lips to him.

Lucian, who desperately kept what he said, had never overlooked anything. With a dismayed look on her face, she turned one hand to him. His large hands gently caressed her cheeks.

“I don’t want you hurt, Ray.”

The blue eyes widened at the unexpected remark. With his thumb under her eyes, he took the small hand that was covering her mouth. He lifted her little thumb up with his fingertips and then opened his mouth to swallow it.

Clenching his tongue and sucking her thumb, he began to suck as if he was about to eat something delicious.

Slurp, slurp.

A damp sound began to fill the room. Lucian rolled his tongue as he stared intently into the wide-open, blue eyes in surprise. He tapped her hard fingertips with his tongue and sucked it in as hard as he could.

“Hu-uht!”

Rachel gasped as she covered her own mouth was lovely, that his eyes narrowed. At the same time, Lucian wiggled his tongue as he rubbed the gap between her little fingers with his index finger. The finger trapped in his mouth twitched as he touched and sucked.

Chu.

Lucian, who thoroughly tasted her thumb, this time bit her thin index finger to his lips and whispered.

“Instead of the lips.”

“…Hiccup!”

Rachel was so startled that she hiccuped. She never thought that he would put her finger in his mouth.

…Not her lips, but her fingers. Why?

However, the question did not last long.

All her thoughts evaporated as her cold fingertips were sucked into his mouth hotter than hot water. He put all her fingers in his mouth as if he was going to eat them, then pulled them out again and again.

When Rachel puckered her finger at the feeling, Lucian then lengthened his tongue and licked her wrist. Her face was already burning red as the saliva from his tongue ran down her wrist.

He loved the warmth he felt through his palms… The way she reacted to him one by one was as if she was saying something to him…

I love you, too.

As much as you love me, I have loved you for a long time.

When she reacted like this, he was encouraged.

“Ray…”

“…Luci.”

What a lovely nickname this is.

He held her in his arms as they sat on the sofa together and looked at each other with their bodies folded.

“Does it hurt to just touch for a second?”

Rachel felt like her heart was about to burst as he rubbed the tip of her nose with his nostrils while whispering as if pleading with her. She could no longer pretend that she did not understand his words.

He was saying he loved her with his whole body…

It couldn’t have been less lovely.

Possessor or Cassandra or the past, all aside, she covered his cheek with the hand that was covering her mouth. The quivering emerald eyelashes signaled her nervousness. Rachel slowly raised her head.

She whispered as she approached him close enough that their breath overlapped.

“Okay.”

The two lips touched each other, giving each other a short but intense feeling, and then they separated.

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