37. Change

Adeline chose to bathe alone as usual.

Perhaps because she had been in the lake during the day, Adeline fell asleep after closing her eyes for a moment in the bathtub.

The warm water temperature had made her drowsy.

When she turned her gaze, the outside had already turned pitch black.

Adeline hurriedly dried her body and changed into a chemise.

She was surprised when she saw her reflection in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

She thought she was accustomed to thin clothes since she normally wore outfits with some degree of exposure.

However, her chemise-clad figure in the mirror looked quite provocative.

The chemise, nothing more than a scrap of cloth, was so thin it appeared almost transparent.

The remaining moisture on her body had soaked through, faintly revealing Adeline’s white skin.

“How am I supposed to wear something like this……”

She tried to wear something else but soon gave up.

Before leaving, the maids had worn sly expressions as if plotting something. They seemed to have packed only this type of nightwear.

Eventually, she came out wearing a thin silk cardigan over it.

The bedroom was quiet, suggesting the duke had not yet returned.

Adeline was scanning the empty bedroom when she turned at the sound of the door opening.

The duke had returned and was walking into the bedroom.

‘What, what is this?’

It seemed as if he was approaching the bed where Adeline was.

She hastily got into bed.

Then she slightly lifted the blanket to observe him.

The duke, whom she thought was coming toward her, turned his body and approached the bookshelf.

Even his gesture of taking out a book was elegant without any unnecessary movement.

After confirming he wasn’t coming to the bed, Adeline finally swallowed a sigh.

‘Why am I acting like this?’

Her face belatedly flushed, feeling she had overreacted for no reason.

It was because memories from earlier in the day kept overlapping on his face.

The burning gaze that seemed to have swallowed desire.

That gaze wasn’t just his alone. Adeline too had felt something unbearable when looking at the duke.

Heat gradually emanated from her entire body.

Perhaps because she was covered with the blanket all the way, the heat couldn’t escape and circulated inside.

The chemise had wrapped around her body’s curves.

Just as her breath was heating up from the hot air, it happened.

“You must be hot like that. If you can’t sleep, why not come out?”

The duke’s voice, who had approached without her knowing, seeped into her ears.

He seemed to have sat in a chair next to the bed with a book, as a creaking sound was heard.

“I’m sleeping.”

A chuckling sound was heard, as if he had heard Adeline’s muttered response.

“I see you can talk while sleeping.”

With a thud, the sound of the duke closing the book he was reading echoed.

Then, after footsteps approaching, one side of the bed sank down.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he carefully lowered the blanket that Adeline had pulled up.

Then he placed his hand on Adeline’s forehead.

A cool sensation seeped through his fingertips.

The hand that had stayed on her forehead for a moment, as if checking for fever, was removed.

“Do you have a slight fever? We should return to the ducal mansion early in the morning just in case. You fell into water on an autumn day.”

Adeline was about to refute but stopped.

She knew that the heat wasn’t from catching a cold after falling into the water during the day.

She couldn’t possibly say it was because of him that she was heating up.

She had deliberately avoided making eye contact with the duke since he approached. Fearing her face would heat up if their eyes met.

She just hoped he would return to his seat and continue reading his book.

“If you want to sleep, it would be better to turn off the lights.”

With those words, he blew out the candle at the far end of the bed.

A small darkness descended upon the bedroom. And just as the duke was leaning over to extinguish the candle on Adeline’s side, it happened.

Adeline had been suffering from the breath tickling her nose.

Even though she tried to endure it, her entire body felt like it was boiling with heat again.

“The light is fine. You don’t need to turn it off. You need it to read your book……”

Adeline ended up meeting his gaze while speaking.

His red eyes, reflecting the candlelight, were flickering right in front of her.

“Finally, you meet my gaze.”

He had somehow mounted on top of Adeline.

The duke didn’t know how to avoid eye contact. Adeline’s face flushed hot under such an embarrassing gaze.

“Why can’t you meet my eyes?”

He slowly stretched his lips into a smile.

It was a mischievous smile, as if he could clearly see into Adeline’s mind.

“That’s……”

“Shall I tell you the reason?”

As Adeline hesitated, unable to continue her words, Casis parted his lips instead.

“Because you can’t control yourself. You must hate me so much. Yet you’re attracted to me, aren’t you?”

He half-removed the blanket that was covering her body.

His gaze fell on the chemise that clung damply to her skin between the open front of her cardigan.

Despite being clothed, Adeline felt embarrassed as if she were naked.

“Enough to make your entire body heat up like this.”

Adeline bit her lower lip.

The duke, looking at her with eyes that seemed to know everything, was insufferably arrogant.

But she couldn’t find words to refute him. Because it was true.

It was then that Adeline tightly gripped the blanket with her hand.

“If you want to torment your innocent lips, surrender.”

His index finger brushed across Adeline’s lips. Then he inserted his hand and opened her mouth.

The saliva that emerged from where his finger had invaded trailed a long silver thread.

It was provocative.

The man must have felt it too, as the desire in Casis’s eyes instantly deepened.

He impatiently leaned forward.

The joined lips showed no sign of separating.

Only the provocative sounds created by the entangled soft flesh echoed in the bedroom.

When she became breathless, Adeline pushed against his chest.

His lips detached momentarily, then this time he bit Adeline’s nape. Sticky, as if she were a fruit.

“Ah.”

With one hand, he began to undo his dress shirt.

Between the loosening shirt, firm, solid muscles rose and fell repeatedly.

The reality of what she had imagined earlier in the day when seeing his body through the wet shirt was revealed.

Even though it wasn’t her first time seeing it, Adeline’s face heated up.

The man, who had already removed his top, mounted her again and grabbed Adeline’s pelvis to pull her down.

He buried his lips in Adeline’s nape, which had been pulled down in one swift motion.

His lips gradually descended, passing her neckline and sliding along her cleavage.

He grasped her br*ast with one hand. Despite holding it fully, its abundance overflowed, causing Casis to exclaim.

“Ha.”

He buried his face in the rounded mound.

Casis’s hand stroked her stomach and then moved downward.

“Hnngh.”

His hand extended toward the round cave. Just as Adeline, who had been helplessly squirming, raised her hand to stop his, it happened.

“Don’t worry. I won’t go further than this.”

Casis seemed to hastily stop as he realized she was pregnant.

But the passion in his eyes didn’t easily subside.

After seeming to endure for a while, he straightened his body that had been on top of Adeline.

Only then did Adeline exhale her shallow breath.

From the moment their lips met, her thought process had become a complete mess.

Adeline stared blankly at Casis’s back as he stood up from the bed and fixed his clothes.

“Are you Duke Torpeo, or……”

Perhaps due to being heated from the atmosphere, her lips moved without her knowing.

“Are you Mel?”

Adeline wasn’t actually asking whether the person before her was Mel or the duke.

She asked because the person she had been with at the villa was so similar to Mel. It was a somewhat impulsive question.

The duke turned at Adeline’s question.

His eyes, looking down at her, had already returned to their original state.

“Is that important to you? When both are me.”

With those final words, the duke left the bedroom.

As she watched his back leaving the bedroom, a corner of Adeline’s heart tingled again.

Despite it being an ambiguous statement that couldn’t confirm anything.

⁕⁕⁕

After riding in a carriage that arrived early in the morning and traveling for several hours, they returned to the ducal mansion.

The two had immediately packed their belongings and returned, perhaps because he was concerned about Adeline falling into the lake.

The duke headed to his office, saying he had pending work.

Adeline walked toward the second floor of the mansion, which had become as familiar as her own home.

The atmosphere of the mansion was subtly different. The servants who usually treated Adeline as an outsider and whispered about her were gone.

Strange. Had things really changed?

And finally, when she reached the bedroom.

Becky approached in one swift motion to greet Adeline.

“Lady Del! Welcome back. You must be tired from the long journey? Please sit here.”

Adeline sat at the table as Becky led her.

She was about to untie Adeline’s hair to brush it but spoke first.

“Oh my, Lady Del. Your aura has changed a lot? The recuperation at the villa must have been effective!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! Your expression has brightened. The duke must truly cherish you!”

Becky spoke excitedly.

“I wonder. He doesn’t seem to cherish me.”

“Oh my, what are you saying? The duke made so much effort to recuperate with you!”

She paused from brushing and met Adeline’s eyes through the mirror.

“He called the butler separately every night for reports. Originally, he was supposed to receive reports in the afternoon, but considering the lady’s rest, he received them late at night.”

“……”

“Our butler’s back hurt from going back and forth every night.”

Adeline remained silent for a while as she looked at Becky, who was speaking passionately through the mirror.

She was somewhat dazed. The Duke Torpeo she knew wasn’t the type to consider her so meticulously.

Then she was awakened by a calling voice.

“Lady Del? Are you listening to my story?”

“I’m listening.”

“You must feel good, right? Being loved so much!”

Adeline couldn’t bring herself to agree and responded with an awkward smile.

Unlike her outward appearance, which she tried to maintain as if nothing was wrong, inside she was confused.

‘Why?’

Why was he suddenly doing things he hadn’t done before? Was he really trying to go back to how things were?

Although she was full of questions, Adeline’s lips curved elegantly.

Even if it might be an act for others to see.

Still, it didn’t feel bad.