Chapter 123

‘Ah. He’s really cute, but it’d be difficult if he continued like this…’

Elysia drew in a long breath and tugged at Cassian’s collar as she thought so. Although it was hard at the close distance, she should start by appeasing this cute man.

“You don’t look alike. You and the man in the portrait are different.”

“…Yes.”

Cassian’s face flushed a little.

“And, he’s not to my liking.”

“What kind of man does Lady Elysia like?”

At those words, she scanned Cassian’s face as he stood with his back to the moonlight. A man who seduced her with everything was still the same as he was then and now. Even the breath he exhaled was terribly tempting.

Elysia overlapped her lips instead of answering. She pressed her lips gently and backed away, and once again.

The lips became more thickly engaged with each other.

Even though she didn’t take her eyes off him, she licked his lower lip and bit on it. Cassian let out a short moan, and she bit between his parted lips. As she tried to soothe him, Elysia gently scanned his mouth and tickled him.

Was it hard to meet her eyes and kiss her? Or did it feel different that people behind him might see the kiss?

His breathing was already disturbed.

“Ah, haa.”

Their lips parted for a moment, and his moaning was heard as her hand gripped his collar. Elysia glanced at the area around his eyes that were slowly burning as she bit his tongue gently.

“You don’t have to think about anything else. Forget the portrait.”

“That doesn’t work.”

“Then, I will make you feel that way.”

At those words, Cassian gritted his teeth and nodded his head. Was this why she kept wanting him to cry? Before she did anything, she distanced herself from him.

“If you say you will stay by my side, I won’t back down.”

“If you were going to do something, you wouldn’t have said that.”

Elysia shook her head.

“I don’t believe it now. Think carefully and answer later.”

All the while, she was going to get rid of his worries. Elysia realized that Cassian might also want him, so she felt great now.

It may not have been just an obsession with the person who came to him in a difficult moment. In fact, it didn’t matter any kind of emotion. They seemed to have conversations going round and round and back to square one, but why did it matter?

“Oh, and…”

“Yes.”

Cassian seemed to answer quickly just when she finished speaking. She felt good again because he seemed to be focusing on her.

“He doesn’t look like you at all. I think I’ll feel bad if I say you look alike.”

“All right.”

“Yes. Then, shall we have dinner?”

Saying so, she snapped her fingers and signaled to the attendant.

“You are calling by magic.”

“Ah Yes, because it’s comfortable.”

It was outside now, and even if it was indoors, it was annoying to reach her hand to tug on the sling. It was because she had developed a habit of doing even trivial matters with magic while living in the Magic Tower with Cardell.

* * *

Cassian’s face looked strange while he was watching the meal prepared by the attendants.

Top to bottom, they were all things he enjoyed eating. He even wondered if there was the food Elysia wanted. And as usual, the two people’s food was prepared at one table. The attendants must also know that Cassian did not come simply as an escort.

“I was told that you were not informed that you were staying at the palace. For now, I brought the clothes to wear today to the bedroom.”

She was about to reply to the attendant when she heard a low, subdued voice.

“Is that so?”

Perhaps Elysia knew it for the first time, so she gave the attendants a sharp look.

“Forgive me.”

Elysia let out a sigh and nodded her head before she almost forgot and opened her mouth.

“Tell the chief attendant. It wouldn’t be fun if someone came here without my permission one more time. It would be okay if Young Duke Esteban couldn’t come to the Imperial Palace for a while.”

Saying that, she smiled softly and asked the attendant to leave.

Meanwhile, Cassian leaned on his chin and looked at the scene. After kissing, he could only see her lips. He wondered why her voice, which seemed a little angry, was so pretty, and her eyelashes that moved with every blink of her eye caught his attention.

The line from her slender neckline to her shoulders was…

‘…Crazy.’

What was he doing before a meal? Cassian wanted to get rid of his thoughts on it, so he quickly turned his head away.

“What’s the matter? Do you have no appetite?”

“No.”

Elysia took care of him, from pushing the food forward to the smallest detail.

At first, he thought that maybe she was treating him like a child though that was absolutely not the case. If so, then she wouldn’t look at him with those eyes.

Rarely did he feel her gaze was as if she was going to eat him.

It was a strangely different feeling from when she was looking at his lips because she wanted to kiss him, like she really wanted to eat him. That part was a bit suspicious, but first of all, her eyes followed him without missing a moment.

* * *

“Is the tea good for you?”

“Yes.”

“Thank god. I made it myself.”

It felt like being raised with great care, but was it an illusion?

They ate together, took walks, had tea, and then, when their eyes lingered on each other for a little longer, their lips overlapped. The day went by so quickly that he didn’t have to spend time doing anything else.

It’d already been a month since they had been like this.

It was the kind of feeling that she was locking him in a comfort zone and making him look only at her, without giving him any time to feel uncomfortable or think about anything else. It felt like she was making up for all of his hard time waiting for her.

Because of that, it was more difficult for him with the fact that there was no promise of meeting her again. He was always eager and willing to wait.

“Oh, but you said you didn’t know you had to stay here…?”

The beautiful brow furrowed again.

“Isn’t it too late to ask now?”

Elysia, who was pondering something, replied with a face that was really unwilling.

“Ummm. Then, you don’t have to be here, but you have to come back. A month has already passed.”

“I’ll be here.”

Cassian didn’t want her to send him back after meeting her. He didn’t want to think like this, and his personality wasn’t actually like this.

Still, that didn’t work out in front of Elysia.

In fact, he couldn’t even remember what conversation he had had with her all day. Except for a few important words, only the touch of her lips remained.

“You don’t want to?”

Elysia asked, even though she knew it wasn’t because she didn’t have an answer. She wanted to hear the answer directly.

“No way. I think I want to take you to bed…”

With those words, the blood rushed to one place. Elysia was flustered, and the teacup spilled out with a loud noise.

“Are you okay?”

Cassian raised his body and hurriedly approached Elysia. Her dress was soaked with hot tea, and the cup rolled on the floor. Wasn’t it the boiling water she poured out a little while ago? It wasn’t something to just wipe off and pass on.

“This is not even… huh?”

Cassian knelt down on one knee and lifted the ankle hidden under the hem of her dress.

“I’ll take a look.”

She was so shocked that she had no idea what he was doing. At the same time, Cassian did not hesitate to pull up her dress. The area from her ankle to the top of her foot was red.

“Wait, wait. It’s really okay… Cassian!”

The next moment, he picked her up and headed for the bathroom while Elysia continued to purse her lips as if she had something to say.

“I’m really fine…”

“What is fine?”

Asking that back, Cassian straddled Elysia in the bathtub and lowered her back to sit in front of him. As he turned on the water and checked the temperature, he slowly poured cold water over her ankle.

There were red marks on her pale skin, so the contrast was too great.

He was looking at her ankles. Fearing that it would break if he touched it, he was afraid to hold it with force. Come to think of it, he wondered if she was okay after taking a walk for so long. He should have asked her to come inside early.

The redness quickly disappeared. He, of course, thought she was going to get blisters…

Cassian came to his senses and shook his head, blaming himself. He should think it was fortunate, but he couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t normally…”

Hearing that voice, he raised his head and saw Elysia scratching her cheek in embarrassment.

“…I mean, I’m not normally this clumsy.”