Chapter 42

Episode 42: She Doesn’t Love Me

Raymond hugged her tightly. Eventually, he rushed toward her again, throwing away all his composure as an emperor.

Raymond belatedly found two small hands curled up underneath him.  She was really a strange woman. She flirted, like seducing him, but now she is belatedly getting scared.

Laughter flowed out at her contradictory behavior.

“It’s okay.”

Raymond whispered, stroking her hands that were curled up in a circle. She looked up at him with her eyes wide open as if surprised.

“I’m not going to do it hard, so relax.”

Raymond whispered in the sweetest voice he could make.

“Huh? Chloe.”

As a child, his mother used to pat him gently, he did the same to her recalling those moments. She, who was hanging on him and whispering to hug her, blinked a couple of times and then slowly closed her eyes.

Raymond moved his lips over the nape of her neck, thinking it was a pity that he couldn’t see the two eyes that had been buried under her eyelids. The smell of soft skin and subtle perfume mixed together and eroded his senses.

* * *

The number of meetings that continued twice a week gradually increased. Three, four times a week…… Eventually, he locked her in his bedroom and did not send her back for a few days.

Nevertheless, it was not enough. Raymond even thought it was a little scary because he was gradually falling for her.

“Chloe… Chloe Garnet.”

Raymond constantly rolled the name in his mouth. Whenever that happened, the soft feeling tickled his heart.

Slip.

Delicate silver hair scattered through thick fingers. Raymond lowered the tip of his nose to the tip of her hair.

“You always smell good.”

Then she looked back at him slowly.

“What kind of scent is it?”

“Can’t you smell this scent?”

Chloe sniffed at her body and tilted her head.

“I don’t know.”

Then she soon curved her eyes and hung on Raymond’s arm.

“Your Majesty, please tell me. What scent is it?

“Well…”

Raymond grinned and looked down at her approaching face and moaned a little.  Was that natural gesture intentional?

Raymond’s thick palms gently wrapped around Chloe’s face. Chloe slowly lowered her eyes with a lovely flush over her cheeks, as if she had guessed what would follow.

His lips landed once on her forehead and once on the tip of her nose.

“Chloe.”

Burning eyes stared at her lips, red as cherries, as if stabbing them.

“Because of you…….”

Raymond stroked her lips with his outstretched finger. The warmth of the soft touch on his finger spread through his whole body.

“I think it’s getting weirder and weirder.”

At that, Chloe let out a small laugh.  Her slender arms wrapped around Raymond’s waist. Raymond lowered his head, gently lifting the tip of her chin.

“Can you believe it? I think I’ve come to like you.”

“…….I believe in you, Your Majesty.”

Raymond glanced at her lovely eyes, curved, gazing at him and stroked her cheek.

However, her lips, smiling saying it was ticklish, did not say the same thing as he said.

‘Is it still greed?’’

Of course, Raymond, who expected her to confess that she liked him just like he likes her, was disappointed. However, he did not express it.

If I ask her if she likes me here, she will immediately say yes. However, I didn’t want to receive a forced confession with that lovely echo.

“I like you, Chloe.”

Instead, Raymond confessed to her with a stronger voice with his heart.

“I love you.”

The lips of the man who knew love for the first time, contained a careful confession.

<Continued to Volume 2>

Volume 2

Chapter 5. Raymond Del Astaroth’s Story II

The Emperor’s half-brother and head of the House Ludwig, Kailos, was the man who brought the illegitimate child, and raised her as a sponsored child when the collateral family fell. He was also her guardian in name and reality.

“I am very grateful for His Majesty’s affection for the child, but as the child’s guardian, I cannot help but be concerned.”

Kailos sat across from Raymond with a rather serious expression on his face and raised a cup of hot tea.  Raymond leaned his back on the chair and interlocked his hands.

“Worry? What do you mean?”

A small wrinkle appeared on Raymond’s forehead, as if annoyed. Despite the vicious force that ordinary people fear, Kailos gracefully took a sip from the teacup and put it down again.

“As you know, the child is already of marriageable age. It is also my duty to find and send a suitable mate.”

“Finding a mate… You’ll send her?”

Raymond stared at the half-brother, while gritting his teeth. Kailos smiled leisurely and nodded.

“Because she can’t be your mistress forever. Although she is an illegitimate child of the family, if she is lucky, she will be able to live as the widow of an elderly nobleman.”

“…….”

“She has been playing with the passing fire for too long. We should put out the fire before the rumors spread.”

“Playing with fire. What do you mean?”

An angry voice leaked out. He couldn’t forgive Kailos for comparing his love to nothing but “playing with fire.”

“I never kept her by my side with such a light heart, brother.”

“…….”

At the voice of the angry Raymond, Kailos shut his mouth.  Raymond was furious.  He was even more angry with himself, for he couldn’t do anything but get angry at his half-brother’s words. He slowly closed his eyes and pressed down on his stinging temple.

I heard that rumors have already begun to spread.

Chloe Garnet, The Emperor’s mistress……. An unclean woman who seduced the emperor and took the seat next to him, but eventually doesn’t know when she would be abandoned…….

‘No, Chloe is……!’

She was the first woman who made him realize love. Raymond couldn’t stand the fact that she was insulted because of him.

I couldn’t stand seeing her, who is the one I love, being pointed at and called a mistress.

Raymond thought he should find a way somehow.

“Your Majesty, woke up first…… Uncle?”

Chloe, who was sleeping in the next room, came across to the parlor to find Raymond, but found Kailos and widened her eyes.

It was so lovely to see her blushing and tying her gown together. She must have been embarrassed. Traces of himself were visible through her robe.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know my uncle came.”

The anger that had been engulfed all over his body faded away at the sight of her. Raymond smiled softly and beckoned her.

“Come here, Chloe.”

She came closer and sat next to him. Chloe looked into the eyes of himself and Kailos, as if this was a bit awkward.

“……I’m going back now.”

Kailos stood up with a small sigh. Chloe’s gaze, looking down at only her fingertips, followed him upwards.

In a very short moment, the eyes of the two collided. Kailos smiled at her restless eyes.

“Well then, Chloe.”

Raymond glanced at her as she reacted, trembling at her voice.

“I’ll see you again at the Duchy.”

“…..Yes.”

Kailos turned around and walked out.  Suddenly, Raymond felt a strange sense of incongruity.

It was strange.

Chloe. My Chloe.

Why are you looking at my half-brother with those eyes?

“Chloe.”

Raymond frowned and wrapped her chin in his hand and turned her towards him.

“Oh, yes, Your Majesty.”

Only then did the eyes face him and she smiled as gently as she always does.

* * *

It was in an instant that doubts turned into conviction. Raymond then understood, Chloe doesn’t say that she loves him despite the gesture that is sure to seduce him.

“What does Kailos mean to you?”

“What…..?”

In an instant, her spoon that was eating the clear soup stopped in mid-air.  She made a puzzled expression for a moment, but then she answered with a smile on her face.

“He’s a good person. On the day Garnet collapsed, he took me out of the flames and brought me to the Duchy and raised me until now.”

“…….”

Looking at her expression recalling Kailos, Raymond had to clench his fist secretly. She looked clearly different from when she looked at him.

A little more affectionate, a little more friendly…….

Yes, this is the face you have in front of the person you really love.

Raymond slowly closed and opened his eyes and looked at her. She tilted her head like a habit and smiled as if nothing had happened.

“Your Majesty?”

“It is nothing. I was just thinking about how to praise him, your benefactor.”

Letting out a small smile. Chloe cautiously approached him and sat on his lap. Raymond caressed her lovely eyebrows and smiled briefly at her.

* * *