CH 19.1

Complimenting Karin on her make-up, which was finally acceptable, Lila handed her a booklet and a box.

“I didn’t realise Amanda was coming so only had one, I’ll get it ready for you, will you come to the ducal residence later to collect it?”

“Madam…”

Behind an impressed Amanda, a stunned Karin stood dumbfounded.

“Karin, make sure you familiarise yourself with what I’ve written down in the book, it describes the benefits of the beauty cream and how to use it, and I’ve already written about other beauty creams, they’re not for sale yet, but it’s good to know.”

“… Yes, Madam.”

“Try the creams in the box and make sure you keep a record. Okay?”

“Yes, Madam!”

Amanda replied cheerfully, looking nothing like she had when she came in earlier.

“Ah, Jessie. Would you mind packing them something to eat? I feel a little bad about sending them away without dinner. Why don’t you come and sleep at the Duke’s?”

“What? No, no, no. How can we stay at the Duke’s, that’s not possible.”

Karin interrupted. Lila felt a little sorry for her. As they applied make-up and laughed and chatted, the stress melted away.

She loves makeup after all.

As Lila pondered, she heard a note.

“Wife…”

Lucas, impatiently interrupting, called out to Lila.

“Lucas?”

“It’s very late at night. Gale has been sent away on other business, and I don’t think you should send the ladies out this late.”

“Oh, of course…”

Lila looked at Karin and Amanda with an apologetic expression.

“I don’t know what to do, I’m so sorry. It was just so nice to do your make-up together, I didn’t think of that. Why don’t you just go to bed, I’m worried.”

“No, Duchess, it’s all right, I want to go home and look through my books and boxes too. Don’t worry, we had fun too!”

Despite her darkly shaded eyes, Karin spoke cheerfully. Amanda replied cheerfully.

“I’m so glad we had such a great experience! The Duchess’s make-up is the best in the empire! It’s so beautiful, and I want to be like you.”

Folding her hands in front of her, Amanda’s eyes sparkled.

“Madame, since Owen is off work now, I suppose you could ask him to do it, since we’re going to the Duke’s carriage anyway.”

“Ah, that would be a relief!”

Lila replied, beaming. Jessie stepped forward.

“Well, then, I’ll show you the way, so let’s go.”

Moonlight seemed to pour down on the balcony off the parlour. Late at night, long after it was time for bed, Karin and Amanda followed Jessie to the entrance.

Lila turned to see them off but was stopped by a firm arm around her waist.

“Lucas?”

“Wife… you seem to have forgotten my appointment.”

A gruff voice licked her ear.

“I have been waiting for my one and only wife.”

Sounding lighthearted, she was forcibly seated on the sofa by Lucas.

“What promise did we make?”

Lucas’s eyebrows wiggled like earthworms at her forgetfulness.

“You forgot?”

“…I got a little busy, so I must have forgotten. What was the appointment?”

Lila asked, noticing his increasingly pouty mouth. Try as she might, she couldn’t think of anything.

Lucas, who had been working faster than usual, did not restrain his growing irritation.

“Wife, that’s not fair.”

Leaning back loosely on the couch, Lucas crossed his arms. His lips jutted out in a pout, just like Michael’s when he pouted.

Lila rolled her feet in her dress, feeling both embarrassed and cute at the same time.

Honestly, she wondered how much difference there was between the two of them, but sometimes, when they acted like this, she wondered if they were the same age.

Lila cautiously closed her mouth and looked at Lucas. He never took his eyes off her, and it was refreshing to see him staring off into space with his head turned at an angle.

Much to Lucas’s chagrin, Lila looked at him curiously at this new look.

Lucas snapped his head around in frustration when she didn’t say anything, and the cobalt eyes that met his were a different colour than he’d expected.

The look in his eyes, the look when you see something sparkly, twinkly, and cute. Lucas’s expression grew more and more rotten.

“Ha, wife…”

I mean, this woman…

“Now…”

Is she trying to be cute with me?

Lucas flashed a wicked grin, and Lila, sensing the uneasy vibe in the air, flinched back.

“Lu, Lucas?”

The way he bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes would normally have made him look handsome, but now it was something else entirely.

It was as if something black was rising up from behind him. His scent moved with it, shifting sinisterly, branching out and binding her like a cage.

“You must keep your word, wife.”

When he spoke, he moved quickly. Lila scrambled for the end of the couch, but he caught her and flipped her over.

With her upper body straddling the rounded armrests of the sofa, Lila gasped and shouted at Lucas.

“What, what promise!”

“If you don’t remember, I’ll make you remember.”

Roughly pulling up the hem of her skirt, Lucas slapped her plump lower body with the tiniest bit of force.

“Aaak!”

“A wife who forgets her word needs to be punished.”

“Lucas!”

Her panicked cry didn’t stop Lucas. Quickly making her lower body naked, he lowered his head.

“Hmph.”

Instantly, heat flared up beneath the chill of exposure to the air. As much as she wanted to flail her legs at the exhilarating sensation, Lila couldn’t.

Lucas was wrapping his arms around her white legs and burying his face in them.

The hem of her skirt curled up with each twist of her waist. All Lila could do was grip the armrest of the sofa tightly.

“Lucas!”

Lila called out desperately at the hot sensations racing through her body, but Lucas didn’t answer.

“Hah, hah, hah.”

She flailed her arms in the air, not knowing what to do with herself. Lila’s legs shook with the dizzying sensation of pleasure.

Then the heat dropped.

“Hah, hah, hah.”

A wild gasp burst from between her lips as if she’d taken a wild leap, and then Lucas bit down on the tender flesh in front of her.

“Kyaaah!”

And in a flash, he was one with her. Their bodies radiated heat where they clung.

“Hah, wife.”

Lucas chuckled, running his tongue over his moistened lips. Staring down at Lila beneath him like prey, he grabbed the curled hem of her skirt at her waist.

He gripped the reins as tightly as if he were holding a horse’s bridle and began to move slowly.

“What if you forget my promise, huh?”

His lower body, which was beginning to gain momentum, moved fluidly, jerking back and forth, then twirling, teasing her.

“Mmm, hmm.”

Lila’s head bobbed from side to side as intense pleasure coursed through her from toe to toe. It didn’t compare to the pleasure she’d felt earlier.

The grip of the large hands, and the ragged moans from above, all brought her to her senses.

His hips shifted as he gauged her reaction, and he whispered low.

“At least you keep your promises, ahm, wife.”

Lucas’s lips curled into a long smile at her mention of granting any request after dark.

It was a shame she’d forgotten her promise, but he’d earned it. He would make it a punishment.

To make sure she never forgot a promise.

With a wild outpouring of desire, Lucas lowered his torso to embrace her, grabbing her small jaw and twisting it, slipping his tongue in wickedly.

He hadn’t felt so restrained in his embrace of her lately, but he still couldn’t get enough.

“Aah, Lala.”

He bit her earlobe and tugged, his tongue savouring her flesh. The sweet scent that clung to his mouth felt like a flood of sugar.

His tongue felt numb from the sweetness.

“Mmm.”

The pleasure that had been simmering near the threshold surged upward. Lila moaned, her whole body straining, and with her, Lucas climaxed as well.

The pure white light seemed to come in a straight line. Lucas let out a long breath as the blinding pleasure washed over him.

He clutched Lila tightly in his arms. And just like that, his day was complete.

A day without her was now unthinkable.

* * *

As it was an Academy holiday, Michael was busy getting ready to go out in the morning.

Dressed in Lila’s favourite outfit, he and Henry moved to catch the carriage.

John, whom he passed briefly on the way, gave him a sneering look at his attire, but he ignored him.

“Hey, you’re ignoring me?”

He’s known him since the Autumn Ball, but he’s such a jerk. A brief flare of irritation flashed through him, but he maintained his ignorance.

“Hey!”

John, who was taller than Michael, grabbed him by the shoulders. Before a flustered Henry could stop him, Alfonso appeared.

“What’s all the fuss about now?”

“Marquis!”

Startled, John quickly let go of his shoulder, but Alfonso saw them all.

“Hmph, there are three things that are strictly forbidden inside the Academy, I’m sure you’re aware of them?”

“Yes…”

“What are they?”

“Firstly, in the Academy, relationships are equal regardless of rank.”

“Yes, yes, I see. Second, let’s not forget what the spirit of enquiry is. And what is the third?”

Despite Alfonso’s kindly tone, John lowered his head, glaring.

“No disturbance by force, absolutely no…”

“I am well aware of that.”

“But, Marquis, Michael ignored me first, so I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to…”

“What do you say to that?”

“What?”

John looked up, dumbfounded by his answer. Alfonso was smiling lightly, but his eyes were not smiling.

“Today is a holiday, and I understand that all the students here are out for a short trip home. The carriages that are right in front of you will take you to your respective homes.”

John, not quite sure what Alfonso meant, simply nodded.

“So Michael will go to the Duke’s house, and John will go to the Viscount’s house?”

John’s face flushed with shame as he finally understood.

“Hmm, I’m glad to hear that, ah, Mr. Michael.”

“Yes, why do you call me that?”

“You’ve got a crooked bowtie.”

As he spoke, Alfonso reached out and straightened Michael’s bow tie.

There were many students on the way to the carriage house, and they all saw them. Alfonso, the son of the Academy’s president, was favouring Michael.

“Thank you…”

“Will you say hello to Lila and the Duke for me? I expect there will be so many invitations, so I’ll just say hello.”

Alfonso’s expression as he smiled was childlike and innocent, but Michael was reluctant.

“Sure, sure.”

“Okay, have a good time.”

He turned and walked away, leaving Alfonso waving gently. Once he and Henry were in the carriage, Michael muttered.

“He’s a bit of a lunatic.”