Chapter 77

Mesmerized by the tiny flame flickering in front of her face, Liv then reflexively removed her cigar at the stinging, searing heat.

“Cough, cough!”

Liv, who had been breathing mindlessly, sucked on her cigar without much skill and clamped her mouth shut. But it didn’t completely stop the violent coughing fits. After a coughing fit that brought tears to her eyes, she finally looked up.

The cigar in her hand was still lit and burning.

“Oh, was it too hard for you?”

The Marquis must have expected Liv’s response from the start. Otherwise, how could he be so nonchalant?

Looking down at Liv, whose cheeks and eyes were red from coughing, the Marquis took the cigar from her hand.

“If so, you’ll have to learn first.”

He skillfully sucked on the cigar that Liv had been taking a moment ago. Keeping the smoke into his mouth and then spitting it out, the Marquis lightly grabbed Liv’s chin with his other hand that wasn’t holding the cigar. Following the pull, Liv’s chin lifted, and her eyes made contact with the Marquis.

The smoke from a cigar up close stung her nose and blurred her vision. Alas, she was too distracted to pay attention to the acrid smoke.

By a somewhat rough, wet texture that pressed down on her lips.

“…!”

A different kind of heat pushed its way between her defenselessly parted lips. He had just smoked a cigar, so his saliva was laced with an aroma. The aroma, which used to be only spicy, had changed into bitterness, with traces of dry, parched leaves.

Liv, frozen with confusion and shock, squeezed her eyes shut. Seeing the Marquis’ face right in front of her seemed to aggravate the stimulus.

However, when she blocked her vision, her tactile senses became more sensitive.

The tongue that invaded her mouth gently twirled around her tongue and swept across her mouth lining. The slow, controlled movement took all her attention. She could feel the tip of his tongue all too clearly, where and how it nudged and rubbed.

The sensation that took her away helplessly gradually spread to her entire body. A chill ran up the back of her neck, as if someone had scratched her spine.

“Ngh…”

A sobbing escaped from between her gasping lips. As if that were a signal, the lips that had been gently pressed together tensed.

With a stronger force than before, Liv’s upper body was pushed backward. But even though she pulled back, let alone leaving hers, his lips advanced fiercely.

His tongue lapped at hers, swirling around her mouth, demanding that she stay put. She could feel the fingers gripping her chin getting stronger.

Saliva, unrecognizable as whose, ran down the corners of her mouth. She could no longer smell the cigar on their steamy, tangled breath.

Her body, kept leaning backward, was close to losing its balance. Liv instinctively grabbed the hem of the man closest to her to keep from falling. The moment she felt the soft texture of the shirt crumple in her hands, the power that had been stealing her breath finally left her.

The tight grip on her chin also disappeared. Liv took a deep breath and barely managed to lift her fluttering eyelids. As she straightened her hunched back, she could see the Marquis moving away.

He was so elegant and unruffled that if it weren’t for his lips glistening with saliva, she might not have known what had happened a moment ago. The only trace left on him was the crease in his chest where Liv had clutched him like she was going to hang on for dear life.

Liv stared at the Marquis blankly, still unable to catch her breath despite his lips had left hers. The Marquis casually crushed the cigar, which was quite charred, onto the table.

“I’m not sure if you’ve learned it right.”

A black, round mark was left on the expensive table. Tossing the still-smoldering cigar on top of it, the Marquis completely turned his back on Liv.

Only then did Liv come to her senses.

“… Learn… what?”

“How to roll smoke in your mouth.”

He wiped the saliva from his lips with a handkerchief and frowned when he spotted the crease on his chest. Roughly smoothing out the crumpled mess with his fingertips, he opened a drawer in the table and pulled out something.

It was a tiny piece of candy.

“I’ve never taught anyone, so I don’t know the outcome of this class.”

The Marquis put a round candy in Liv’s hand where he had put the cigar earlier, and tilted his head at an angle to look at her.

“But I’m sure you’ll do well because you’re diligent.”

The slanted lips were arrogant to say the least, but it was so beautiful that she couldn’t look away.

Liv clutched the candy in her hand. As if it were the sole rescue.

Like believing that holding that candy would get her out of this swamp.

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