Chapter 54

Chapter 54

“Just now. Should I just ask them to bring the meal to your room then?”

“…You don’t have to…”

“Did anything happen while I wasn’t here?”

Hert asked, shoving his foot into the gap and opening the door. He’d only been away for half a day, but even then, he insisted on knowing what Tessa had been up to.

“Just… With the wives…”

“Did you eat only as much as a bird while I wasn’t here?”

“No…”

“Alright. Anything else?”

“Ah…”

Tessa pondered for a moment whether or not to tell Hert that she had decided to learn to read and write from the marchioness. She had no idea how he would react.

While hesitating to answer, Hert reached the bed and gently lowered Tessa onto the bed. He casually put a hand on Tessa’s forehead to check her temperature.

“Good, you don’t have a fever… Lay back in bed until your meal is ready. You look tired.”

“No, I’m really fine…”

Tessa gently waved her hand as he tried to lay her down. As she said earlier, she was wide awake. In the first place, there was Hert, and there was no way she could sleep comfortably in front of him. She was not as ill as before.

Rather, the person who should sleep was Hert. Unlike what she had seen in the morning, he looked much more exhausted now.

“Why, what’s on my face?”

As Tessa stared into his face, Hert asked, narrowing his eyebrows. Were there any bloodstains left? He washed everything as thoroughly as possible.

Hert was about to rub his cheek with the back of his hand, but at the same time, it collided with Tessa’s hand as she was about to reach for his face.

“Ah… I’m, I’m sorry…”

Belatedly realizing what she was doing, Tessa hurriedly lowered her hand and bowed her head as well. Without realizing it, she was trying to touch Hert’s face.

In the past, this kind of reaction would have been unusual, but not now. Tessa never tried to touch Hert in this way since they met again, and so her heart pounded anxiously as she lamented her actions.

At that moment, with a low sigh, she heard Hert’s voice from over her head.

“…Why are you apologizing?”

“…It’s…”

“Raise your head.”

At Hert’s words, Tessa carefully looked up. Then, as Hert’s expression seemed to be even more subdued than before, he stared at Tessa. The man let out another low breath, and then, in a self-blaming tone, shook his head. Shit, I’m crazy.

“I must be crazy.”

His large hands swept over Tessa’s neck. His thumb gently caressed Tessa’s earlobe. Tessa gulped unknowingly. The moment her eyes met his dark blue eyes, shivers ran down her entire body.

His eyes were so full of desire.

“I think I’m crazy about you.”

Hert bent his body and kissed Tessa urgently. With his head tilted slightly, he parted through the gap between her lips and frantically caught her sweet, fruit-like tongue.

He got drunk and continued to breathe in haste. It felt terrifying to drink from that little mouth laboriously squeezing his hot breath.

Before long, the sound of kissing and gasping breaths surrounded them.

Hert, like a man whose thirst never got quenched, constantly taunted and searched through the inside of her tender mouth. The hot and humid interior was tight, much like her lower body.

Then he felt Tessa’s thin, skinny hands gripping the hem of his shirt, as if wandering and clinging at the same time. Hert gently knocked back the small body, which was gradually losing strength.

“Ha…”

Moist red lips, fresh breath poured out. Hert laid Tessa on her bed and slowly looked down at her.

The antique rose scent wafted from her disheveled, ginger-colored hair, and the complexion on her skin was luscious. Through the gap in her narrowed eyes, the emerald-like eyes glittered like water beneath sunlight.

As she looked like a fairy that existed solely for him, Hert couldn’t stand it and swallowed her lips again.

What did she eat for her to taste so sweet? No, rather than just sweet, it was like chocolate made by selecting and combining only the most fantastic flavors. At first glance, it sounds like nonsense, but there was no other way to explain it. Because it didn’t make sense that such a taste existed in the first place.

Hert sucked, overlapped, and licked Tessa’s lips and tongue like a man without reason.

“…Mmh, uht, mmph…”

Eventually, Tessa ran out of air and so she pushed his shoulder slightly, until Hert stopped kissing her and had no choice but to get away.

Tessa gasped and stared blankly at Hert, who still continued to gaze at her.

Since before, her heart was pounding in a different way. Her whole body was warm, her head was spinning, and her stomach was slowly tightening. Her lips glistened with saliva and the inside of her mouth even tingled.

It felt very strange. This tingling sensation did not feel familiar. It felt like she was so taut with tension, but the warmth seemed to melt her body softly. Just like being loved by someone…

Tessa took a breath in surprise as she thought about it. To be loved. How can she think of that when she doesn’t know what it is to be loved?

She stared at him, mesmerized by the man’s hand, now arranging her hair one by one. Hert became more friendly. His eyes, looking at her from time to time, were starting to resemble the boy of the past.

‘Hert, towards me, does he really…’

Tessa insisted on herself that she couldn’t do this, as she remembered what she had been thinking lately. She had been trying so hard to ignore it, but if what she thought was right, she could understand most of Hert’s behavior.

But how could that be? Was that even possible?

For the first time, Tessa couldn’t understand Hert. Because she knew his choice was realistically impossible. No, there would be no one who would make that choice.

‘For you to hold affection for a traitor, what a terrible thing…’

As Hert buried his face in the nape of her neck and left kisses all over, Tessa held her breath.

Unable to do this or that suddenly, she felt so useless. She even felt cowardly that she did not have the courage to ask him directly, nor the courage to turn him away completely. Wouldn’t that just be a sign of staying still until something rolls around on its own?

‘However… If not for one…’

The moment she tried to check it, she was reminded of Hert’s gaze upon her.

‘There’s no way I can like the traitor who put me in hell for seven years. Do you think I’m a joke?’

If she did ask him, just the thought of him saying this took Tessa’s breath away. The real Hert was currently kissing her neck, cheek, and forehead with continuous kisses.

Tessa reflexively closed her eyes tightly.

‘That… I really don’t want it.’

She was about to burst into tears again.

But Tessa thought that she should never cry at this point. Thinking on her own, jumping to her own conclusions, and crying on her own again. It was terrible. A woman as capricious as her should not be loved. She tried to calm herself down as much as possible.

At that moment, a certain thing had been stabbing at Tessa’s thigh since before, and it now grew in size.

At first, Tessa thought it was something from Hert’s pocket, but she soon found out the truth, terribly surprised. That something was thickly swollen in front of her.

Tessa was speechless for a moment.

“…Don’t mind it.”

Noticing Tessa’s reaction, Hert realized the condition of his lower body belatedly, and so he spoke with a clipped voice. Shit. After that, he muttered a small swear word and slowly backed away. He raised his head as soon as his rationality returned after that brief lapse of judgment.

‘I’ve been nagged a few times, now I’m out of my mind.’

In fact, he wanted to hold Tessa’s body a little more and continue to kiss her, but Hert hurriedly pulled away from Tessa, feeling that he really would pounce on her if he continued doing this.

He thought he’d somehow endure until he got the doctor’s permission, but.

Damn it. He thought he could be patient enough, but he was slowly going crazy.

“Ah…”

Tessa, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable as she watched Hert retreat from the bed.

Come to think of it, it’s been quite some time since she last slept with him, and this was due to the semi-forced advice of Kennis, the doctor. With that, Tessa thought that Hert’s desires should have accumulated quite a bit. Besides, she heard that a man’s member would hurt if it wouldn’t reach its peak.

Recalling Marquis Jutert’s words, Tessa glanced at Hert.

“That place…”

“It’s okay. I told you not to worry about it.”

“But…”

“You take care of yourself first.”

Tessa was dismayed as Hert cut her off, and so she bowed her head obliquely.

Still, Tessa did not want to let Hert go like this. Compared to what Hert had done for her, she had done nothing for him. She didn’t want to be something that was useless and only a nuisance.

Tessa turned around and quickly grabbed Hert.

“I, I also… I want to help…”

It would have been nice to be able to help Hert with other things, but unfortunately, this was all Tessa could do right now. So, shouldn’t she at least do her part?

Tessa gathered more courage.

“With my mouth… Or if you don’t like that, then my hands…”

“You…”

Hert looked back at Tessa, narrowed his brow and bit his mouth. He wondered if she had noticed that she was the source of his desire. Otherwise, there would be no reason for her to keep stopping him and being so fidgety even though he said he was okay.

On one hand however, he also found himself taken aback, swayed so easily like this.

“Tessa.”

“…… Let me help you.”

If she continued to say those words with that face, anyone would be swayed.

Of course, if anyone other than him would see her face like that or hear such a word from her, he would immediately tear them to death. The only person who’s supposed to see the expression she had right now was him and him alone.

And here, he realized that he meant it.

For that reason, Hert briefly thought that he should destroy the dead Marquis Jutert’s remains.