Chapter 18

Episode 18

A dry proposal thrown out after a savage kiss. Listening to the driest proposal she had ever heard and read through the story books, Chloe suddenly recalled Alice. She suddenly wondered how hot the eyes of the man who told her to run away together must have been.

“Thank you very much for accepting my offer.”

Leaving her thoughts behind, Chloe bowed her head to show courtesy. Whatever the reason the duke tried to marry her family, the fact that she was chosen as a bride instead in the absence of Alice was not so bad. No, now that the marriage talk with Count Cromwell has completely disappeared, it was also the only friendship line that came in the midst of a crisis.

“Thankful from the bottom of your heart?”

“Yes.”

Chloe nodded as she watched him. The duke wasn’t very satisfied with her face.

“How are you going to prove that?”

The situation changed in favor of the Duke again. It wasn’t unexpected. It was clear that the Duke wanted something through this marriage. Chloe calmly opened her mouth, while calming her mixed feelings.

“I will do my best to help the Duke do what he wants to do.”

“What do I want to do?”

“Whatever it is.”

“Don’t avoid it and tell me the point. What do you think I want?”

He’s a persistent man. He was a person who was good at pushing people to the point where they were suffocated. Chloe’s head became complicated.

“Do I have to lick your dry lips one more time to open your mouth?”

At the same time as the heat rose sharply on Chloe’s neck, her lips, which had been only trembling, moved hastily. A slightly higher trembling voice squeezed out of her vocal cords.

“I think the Duke wants power.”

It was a word that could be interpreted in many ways. Chloe continued, hoping that the Duke would not question her more deeply,

“I don’t know exactly what the Duke is thinking because I’m short-minded.”

“From this moment on, it’s forbidden to speak that way in front of me. Because you’re not short-minded.”

The Duke added, staring at her as if to eat her up,

“I won’t warn you twice.”

Chloe was surprised and tried hard to hold back her body and opened her mouth again.

“I’ll do whatever I can. And…”

“And?”

“I’ll divorce the Duke whenever he wants.”

The Duke, who had been staring at her for a while, finally smiled quietly. She had the illusion that the air in the bedroom, where Chloe felt the most secure for the past twenty-two years, felt as if it were slowly breaking due the uninvited guest.

“You’re arrogant, Chloe.”

Chloe’s dark brown eyes shook.

“You are so cheeky that I’m getting angry.”

No matter how hard she tried to keep calm, the arrogant person in front of her kept making her collapse. Duke Tisse was the one who lit the fire in her heart. That’s why her whole body must be heating up again like this.

“I’m sorry if it sounded like that, Duke. But please don’t misunderstand my sincerity.”

A mixture of resentment and anger swelled in her heart at the situation, where she could not shout at him to leave immediately. Tears welled up in Chloe’s eyes. The duke looking at Chloe, who was struggling to hold back her tears, asked her as if interrogating.

“What do you really mean?”

“…….”

“What do you want?”

It was to run away to the monastery as it is right now and live without seeing his face forever.

The duke looked at her and said sharply,

“This will be the first and last time I give you a chance.”

Chloe pressed down the flames in her heart. Thinking only of her father and Alice, she finally whispered to him,

“I want to be the Duchess.”

Her lips trembled silently. The tears that were hanging heavily eventually couldn’t overcome their weight and flowed down her soft cheeks. The Duke looked at Chloe for a moment, who was crying silently and finally pointed to the jewel box with his chin.

“Try it.”

Glittering colorful jewels shone in Chloe’s blurred eyes. Chloe grabbed the necklace with her trembling hands, biting the flesh in her mouth. The necklace with thicker diamonds than her two thumb nails combined was heavier just by holding it. Her hands were full of sweat when she barely put on the necklace after several unsuccessful attempts.

“The rest too.”

Chloe held the remaining earrings at the Duke’s command. The constant trembling of her hand as she tightened the screw was something she could not stop at will.

“Ah…”

Chloe bit her lips as she watched the colorful jewel sliding down on the hem of her dress. She stood up from her seat to pick up earrings reflecting the sunlight on the carpet on the floor. The Duke only watched her bend over and fall on the floor as the center of her foot, which was supported by one foot, was disturbed.

“I’m sorry.”

“Wear the rest”

Chloe grabbed the earrings as she saw his well-wiped shoes flicker. She didn’t have the power to stand up. However, she wore diamond earrings on her right ear with trembling hands. Only then did the duke, who folded his legs while sitting sideways staring at Chloe, who had the shape he wanted, got up.

“How does it feel to wear Tisse’s jewelry?”

Damien knelt down on one knee and looked at her. When Chloe, who couldn’t look at his face, dropped her head down, his glove-clad hand lifted her chin up towards him.

“Answer me, Chloe Verdier.”

Chloe barely spoke to the world’s most tenacious man with a feeling of vomiting bitter medicine out of her mouth.

“It’s heavy.”

The duke slowly raised his lips as he looked at her. A strange face that’s neither smiling nor angry. Chloe now knew that it was a look that came out when he liked her answer.

“As a duchess, it will be nothing compared to the weight you have to bear in the future. Do you still want to be my wife?”

Chloe had no choice. The man who knows that the best wants to hear the same answer from her mouth several times.

“Yes. I want it, Duke.”

“I see.”

Chloe shivered as she felt his hand slowly touch her lips and finally reached the inside of her mouth. Whenever soft leather, which perfectly wraps his fingers like wax, swept her soft flesh, goosebumps sprang up all over her body. It was inevitable that the kiss they had a few days ago came to mind. The drenched glove finally slipped out of her mouth.

“Have you learnt about the basics of negotiations?”

Damien exhaled in a very low voice. Chloe’s neat eyebrows gathered in the middle of her forehead. He whispered, pressing his forehead against her, who was breathing heavily.

“At this moment, what do I want? Miss Chloe.”

Chloe slowly kissed him, staring at the Duke who smiled meaningfully at her. It was her who started her, but it was the duke who will end it. In the bedroom where Chloe had felt the most cosy in her life, the Duke greedily took her lips and let them go.

Chloe gasped like a person who ran. Her cheeks, which had always been pale, were red with blood. Her breath was disturbed, the headdress was on the ground, and her lips were messed up.

“Too much?”

“…I don’t want to lie.”

When Chloe whispered, the Duke smiled satisfactorily.

“Practice well. It’ll be even more burdensome in the future.”

Feeling like a street prostitute, not a duchess, Chloe had to fight the urge to bite someone for the first time in her life.

***

The Duke summoned Chloe’s father along the way. Viscount Verdier, who appeared in the drawing room looking like he was about to collapse, held his breath several times as he heard the Duke announce his intention to marry Chloe in a dry but outspoken tone.

The Duke fell in love the moment he first saw Alice at the ball he invited, hesitated about the difference in status that could attract public attention, but in the end he could not bear his love and came to the Verdier estate. Hunting was an excuse, and after meeting her again and confirming his heart, he thought marriage was the only answer.

“I belatedly learned that Miss Alice couldn’t marry me, but I thought breaking up in this situation where the royal family came down to celebrate it, would have a bad impact on the Verdier family.”

Chloe, who had prepared tea for her father and the Duke, felt the urge to pour hot tea on the duke, who was telling the perfect lie, and widened her eyes when she saw the gloves. It was only after that she discovered the embroidery on the black sheepskin gloves that stirred her mouth.

Thief.

Chloe clenched her fist next to the Duke, who touched her belongings, not to mention entering the lady’s bedroom at will.

“I was lucky to have another great daughter.”

“Your excellency. But Chloe is… As you know…”

Viscount Verdier stuttered while looking at his daughter’s eyes. The duke grinned at the Viscount, who couldn’t keep up with his words.

“I’m telling you that whatever you’re concerned about can’t be an obstacle to me. I’m on my way back from Miss Chloe’s bedroom.”

Clatter. The sound of the surprised Viscount Verdier dropping the teacup rang loudly in the parlour. Chloe’s face, which had barely calmed down, heated up red. The duke lifted the teacup with a graceful hand, completely ignoring her protesting look asking what the hell he was talking about.

“I was belatedly impressed by the beautiful heart of Miss Chloe, who even prepared a gift for me. It’s not only the duty of a gentleman to pretend not to know the heart of a lady, but it goes against the family tradition that I have been taught.”

* * *

Comments from Korean readers:

Ah… Only if this novel was R19….

Ah…I don’t think it’s okay to make this man roll in regrets a few times….I wish he wasn’t the male lead. I’d rather….the real male lead would appear and get rid of this bastard.

My heart is pounding with tension

Male lead why are you talking like that?

Kimppa’s tension technique level is on a different level

I can’t even breath