27. Conflicting Hearts

Casis was inspecting the Torpeo duchy after a long time.

Perhaps it was because he had been absent for a season. Reports frequently came in about nobles in his territory becoming increasingly unruly and harassing women in the villages.

“I heard the duke brought in a commoner mistress, and her figure and face are quite a sight to behold.”

“Hah. Have you heard? She’s so desperate to show off her body that she only wears dresses with deep cuts everywhere.”

In a smoke-filled underground gambling den.

Just as the duke entered the corner gambling den in the village that was reportedly causing the most problems.

He stopped in his tracks at the unexpected conversation topic. The duke leaned against the doorway and silently focused on their conversation.

“Of course. Isn’t that what mistresses do? Desperately trying to please a man? She should fulfill her duty even if she has to throw off all her clothes!”

“You still have that filthy mouth of yours. Is that how you treated the Baron’s daughter too?”

“Haha. I’ve had the Baron’s daughter, so why couldn’t I have a mere commoner mistress?”

“Even so, how dare you set your eyes on the duke’s woman.”

These men were enjoying their gambling, using the harassment of commoners and even lower noble women as conversation fodder.

“Even the prettiest flower becomes boring if you look at it long enough. When the duke throws her away, Viscount Neville here will quickly pick her up.”

“She should go back to the brothel, but if you save her, she’ll throw herself at you naked, I bet.”

“Hahahaha. If that happens, I’ll show you all that sensual body…”

The corner of the duke’s mouth, who had been listening silently, began to curl up crookedly. Adeline was being gossiped about exactly as he had intended.

Eric was blocked by the duke and couldn’t enter the gambling den. He felt puzzled by the duke who was leaning against the door without taking any action.

“Your Grace. Is something wrong?”

“We’ll come back another time.”

At Eric’s call, the duke left without thoroughly inspecting the gambling den, showing no lingering attachment.

Outside, dawn was already breaking due to the long inspection. The duke headed straight for the carriage returning to the ducal residence.

The small sense of satisfaction he felt at the gambling den was transforming into something unpleasant with each step he took.

Inside the carriage, Casis couldn’t smooth his furrowed brow as he was engulfed by an inexplicable dirty feeling.

“She should go back to the brothel, but if you save her, she’ll throw herself at you naked, I bet.”

Casis leaned against the carriage as unpleasantness washed over him.

It was strange.

He had made Adeline his mistress and deliberately made her wear revealing dresses expecting rumors like this to spread.

But hearing those words directly gave him an inexplicable discomfort that deeply soured his mood.

His heart churned as if insulting Adeline felt exactly like insulting himself.

The more he tormented Adeline, the more she would be diminished.

‘But why do I feel so dirty?’

The duke couldn’t shake the feeling that he was consuming himself.

There was no one to blame. He was the one who had degraded her as his mistress. He was the one who had ordered her dress designs to be changed to more revealing ones.

All of this was Casis’s own doing. He had deliberately tormented Adeline out of revenge, yet he felt discomfort at her being treated that way.

Casis could only loosen his cravat in frustration at this laughable situation.

Casis became confused about what he truly wanted.

Adeline wasn’t a woman who should be circulating as sexual gossip in others’ mouths. Casis had no idea where to begin containing his rising irritation.

Casis urged the carriage to hurry. Today was the day Violetta was visiting.

⁕⁕⁕

After the incident in the bedroom, Adeline openly avoided Casis’s gaze.

If possible, she didn’t even go near the office where he might be. Not only that, she would make various excuses to avoid mealtimes.

But now.

Adeline glanced at the duke sitting on the sofa in the center of the toilette room.

He sat with his legs crossed, flipping through a catalog that Madame Violetta had brought.

‘Why is this man here now?’

The man looking down with extremely annoyed eyes.

As a man, he wouldn’t be interested in catalogs that would typically interest noble young ladies.

‘Does he intend to drain my blood and kill me in the same space this time?’

Even though she hadn’t eaten, this situation seemed perfect for indigestion.

Just as she was about to sigh.

“Lady, take a deep breath!”

Adeline inhaled sharply instead of sighing due to the strong force tightening her corset.

As her lower abdomen was mercilessly tightened, Adeline’s chest rose.

“The dress I brought today needs a tightly cinched waist to beautifully emphasize the lady’s figure.”

Having eaten nothing, Adeline was already struggling just to stand.

In an instant, the corset was fastened, and Adeline put on the dress Madame Violetta had brought.

It was a bold design, embarrassingly so to even call it a dress.

The neckline was deeply cut, and the dress clung tightly to Adeline’s curved body.

There was definitely no noblewoman who would wear such a dress.

It was a design you would see in the pleasure quarters. Adeline’s face turned from blue to pale white.

But Madame Violetta cheered as if unconcerned about Adeline’s reaction.

“Oh my, it suits you perfectly, Lady. Indeed, only Lady Del could pull off such a design!”

“……”

“Your Grace, what do you think? Isn’t the lady truly beautiful?”

Adeline couldn’t raise her head.

From the moment the dress was tightened to fit her body, she had felt his gaze on her.

The man’s gaze that had thoroughly scanned her from head to toe.

“……Your Grace?”

Confusion tinged Madame Violetta’s voice as she repeatedly called to him.

Adeline raised her head at the strangely long silence.

And the moment their gazes met in midair, her heart sank.

The man’s eyes gleamed like those of a beast as he looked at Adeline.

Passion gradually filling those red pupils.

That desire directed solely at Adeline began to sink into the abyss as quickly as it had flared up.

‘That dress is the problem.’

The duke had entered the toilette room intending to change all the dress designs. However, he had unknowingly been burning with desire at the sight of Adeline with her body’s lines completely revealed.

Soon, the incident at the gambling den quickly came to mind, cooling him down, but Adeline had already seen that momentary gaze.

They weren’t alone in the toilette room. There were numerous maids helping with the fitting, and right in front of them was Madame Violetta.

A man showing lust toward her in front of the servants. Shame consumed Adeline.

“Is something wrong?”

“Perhaps the dress isn’t to your liking?”

The silence had grown so long that even the maids waiting behind began to whisper.

The duke slowly rose from the sofa and approached her.

“She is certainly beautiful. Madame Violetta’s skill is considerable. It’s no wonder noble young ladies are desperate to order your dresses.”

The places where his gaze touched felt electrified.

“I-I’m grateful for your appreciation. Then shall we proceed with this dress for the banquet you mentioned?”

The duke’s gaze wouldn’t leave Adeline’s prominently displayed chest. Just as Violetta, after a moment’s pause, asked the duke about his intentions in the face of such a blatant gaze.

“But it would be better to change this dress. I absolutely hate sharing what’s mine. Especially when I think about other men getting worked up looking at my Del, my mood becomes extremely sour.”

Adeline’s heart burned with shame at the duke’s utterly blatant behavior.

“Besides, she’s so beautiful that I can’t control myself. Have her wear this dress only in this mansion, when she’s with me.”

The duke approached Adeline and cupped her cheek with his hand.

Adeline felt as if the thread of reason she had been barely holding onto was slipping away.

“I’m fine with it.”

“What?”

“Why should I only wear such a pretty dress in front of Your Grace? The other dresses will be the same anyway.”

Casis recalled the conversations from the gambling den last night at Adeline’s words.

The unpleasantness he had felt in the carriage seemed to creep over him again.

“Just let me wear this dress……”

Before Adeline could finish her sentence. He pulled her waist with his other hand.

In that moment, as she was drawn into his embrace, his scent suddenly enveloped her.

“If you wear this dress, men blinded by desire will look you up and down like this.”

The unpleasantness he had suppressed was growing uncontrollably into anger.

The duke moved his raised index finger from Adeline’s collarbone down along her cleavage.

Endlessly rising passion and anger. In the duke’s red eyes, these two opposing emotions were burning, stickily intertwined.

Adeline sharply inhaled.

“Ah. Perhaps that’s what you wanted?”

And Adeline wasn’t the only one who froze at his actions. The servants watching the scene, even Madame Violetta herself, were taken aback.

But true to her experience dealing with nobles, the madame smiled as if nothing had happened.

Was it unusual for young, passionate men and women to engage in intimate teasing in a dress fitting shop?

“What is this……!”

Just as Adeline was about to burst with the indignation she had been suppressing at the duke’s humiliating behavior in front of so many eyes.

“Everyone turn around for a moment.”

The servants exchanged glances in midair.

And the moment everyone turned around, he tilted his head and approached Adeline.

He came close as if to devour her lips but stopped just before their lips met.

Looking down at Adeline with half-lidded, decadent eyes, he quietly whispered in her ear.

“It’s hard for me to control myself when you provoke me like this.”

He lowered his head and traced Adeline’s slender neckline, stopping at her collarbone.

“When I’ve made up my mind, follow quietly. Lady Del.”

With those final words, Casis deeply sucked on the pale skin near her neck.

As his lips detached, moist and intense, a sensual sound spread throughout the toilette room.

“……”

Adeline desperately bit her lower lip.

She didn’t want to give the turned-around servants any fuel for their imagination.

And she didn’t want to be swayed by this man.

As she used all her strength to resist, not wanting to be moved by the man who was obsessed with tormenting her.

Casis, watching Adeline while toying with the area above her collarbone, curved his lips into a diagonal line.

He raised his other hand and gently pressed Adeline’s lips. To prevent her from biting them further.

Then he slowly detached his lips from her collarbone.

“Madame Violetta.”

His deep voice, emerging from his smooth lips, resonated through the quiet bedroom.

“Change the design of the dress for the banquet. Make it cover the neck completely, with no exposure.”

As if his words were a signal, the servants who had been turned around faced the two again.

The same was true for Madame Violetta.

She looked back and forth between the duke and Adeline. Then her gaze fell on the red mark that had formed on Adeline’s collarbone.

In the quiet stillness, Violetta’s silently gleaming eyes resembled those of a hyena.