CH 22.1

The table was full of food. Juicy thick veal steak and smoked fish dishes, even fruits that were common in the South but were rare in the North. It was a luxurious and hearty dinner.

And right next to it was the Grand Duke in a navy blue robe, sitting on a chair. A loose gap revealed his angled shoulders and a firm chest.

“I heard you called.”

There was no expression on the Grand Duke’s face. Only his slender eyes slowly turned towards Anne’s face. The bright eyes she saw in the afternoon were immersed in darkness.

Anne quietly met his gaze. Although she was standing and he was sitting, the difference in eye level was not large, perhaps because of his tall body.

The Grand Duke crossed one outstretched leg over the other and picked up a wine glass from the table. With each slight wave of his wrist, the wine in the glass swayed in gentle circles.

“Sit down.”

Anne looked at the Grand Duke’s other side. As she approached the chair prepared for her, he suddenly grabbed her wrist painfully. Her dragged body came so close that it touched his inner thigh.

“Your seat is here, not there.”

Looking down at her grasped hand, he chin towards his thick knee.

“Do you want me to sit on your lap?”

Anne asked, glancing at his thick thighs, but the Grand Duke did not say a word and tapped her on the shoulder indifferently. Even though she tried to hold on, her knees bent and her body went down. Her balance was completely thrown off-kilter, and she slumped in front of the Grand Duke.

The floor felt through her skirt was as cold as ice. She lifted her hips slightly, but the chill from the floor gave her goosebumps.

“What is this? Are you telling me to sit on the floor instead of on a chair?”

Anne, whose eyes became sullen at the unexpected situation, gave a sharp glare. It was too much for her husband to have her sit on the floor.

However, instead of explaining why, the Grand Duke’s gaze, who was staring at her quietly, was very cold.

What did I do?

Nothing came to mind. If she had to choose, it was just taking a handmaid on her own terms and talking to Luciel.

Anne bit her lips, which were chapped by the cold wind. He clenched her chin in his hand and her gaze moved up.

The jaw held by him went numb. The touch of his thumb was far from gentle, and brought tears to her eyes. Then his lips, wet with blood-red wine, opened very slowly.

“Open your mouth.”

“. . .”

Anne doubted her ears.

However, contrary to her wishes, the man’s voice was heavy and resonant. Even though she did not open her lips wide, only the contents were clearly engraved into her ears.

“What . . .?

When she asked, he slowly lowered his upper body. The sculptural features that were pushed in that the bridge of his nose rubbed against her lips was close enough that their lips would touch as he came a little closer, but he didn’t come any longer. As she tensed at the man’s hot breath on her cheeks, he twisted his reddish lips.

“I want to put mine on those lips and hands that have been buried with traces of another.”

Traces . . . ? Anne unknowingly looked at her hand, and she was startled. It was because she found the red marks on the back of one of her hands, like rose water.

But she was upset that it was only because of this. She only gave a hand to the person named Luciel and exchanged some words. Did it mean that she has to sit here on the floor and plead guilty?

“I was just saying hello and talking. After today, nothing will be remembered.”

“Angroanne!”

A flash of reproach flashed across the face with the unknown inside. Again, the Grand Duke was not ordinary.

Then his long fingers pressed her cheeks. Anne, who gathered her brows together, tried to remove her face, but it was in vain again this time.

His thick thumb stroked her half-open lower lip carelessly. Anne’s shoulder shuddered every time he touched the inside of her mouth with the tip of his fingernails.

“You are mine. That body, those lips, even that lewd hole, everything. So, don’t try to provoke me any more and open those lips properly.”

There was a deep possessiveness in the bright red eyes staring at her.

What was wrong with her lips? She naturally glanced at the wine glass he was holding. Was he trying to get her to drink? But for some reason, instinctively, her gaze fell downward. The blunt point where the shape of the trousers swelled between his wide-opened knees strongly attracted her attention.

Suddenly, she gasped as though something was clogging her throat. Her pounding heart couldn’t be calmed, and Anne breathed in the cold air that had been blowing her hair the whole time. As her hot lungs cooled, the tension never subsided.

“This is too much . . .”

“It’s a punishment. Swallow your husband’s cock with that lewd mouth.”

Punishment. Rather than obscene, the words he uttered were more frightening than anything.