CH 16.12

Michael’s cries filled the carriage as they hurried away from the palace.

“Heung huhu, Lila, don’t die, aah…!”

She was bleeding enough to soak his handkerchief, and she looked like she was going to faint.

“I’m fine, Michael. It’s not as painful as I thought. It just looks worse than it is. So, cough! Huh? Cough, stop.”

“Are you an idiot? What the hell were you doing, letting Lila get to this point!”

Michael shed tears like chicken droppings as he kicked Lucas’ shin sitting on the opposite side mercilessly with his small feet.

“… Quiet.”

Lucas murmured lowly, holding Lila tightly in his arms. Even as he climbed into the carriage, he didn’t put her down. No, he couldn’t. It would be closer.

He was horrified at the sight of Lila’s blood. He didn’t think he could do this, but he had only one thought.

To heal her with the potion as soon as possible.

His ears were too full of thoughts to hear Michael’s words.

As soon as they reached the Duke’s house, Lucas ran inside with Lila in his arms. The falling autumn rain could not stop him.

“Vincent!”

He shouted as soon as he entered the manor. In his confusion, he hadn’t even remembered the bell.

“Vincent!”

Michael called after him as he rushed in. Stumbling into the main house, Vincent was stunned to see Lila.

“Madame!”

Jessie, who had followed him in, called out in a renewed scream.

“Quick, get the potion. And get the doctor!”

At Lucas’s command, Vincent moved quickly, fetching his usual potion first and sending Jessie to summon the doctor.

Lila could only breathe a sigh of relief as she lay down on her bed. She was actually sick. She just couldn’t bring herself to admit it.

With Lucas turning pale at the sight of her and Michael bursting into tears, she couldn’t bring herself to even say the word sick. Not even in a joking tone.

Lucas handed Vincent a potion worth the price of an entire manor house, and as soon as he was done, he poured it into Lila’s face. It was a cut that could have been dabbed with a cloth, but no one stopped him.

“Hmph.”

Michael checked her rapidly healing cheeks and burst into another round of tears.

“Lila!”

Lucas snapped, grabbing the back of Michael’s neck as he hung around her waist.

“You go back to your room.”

Lucas handed Michael to Vincent without a second thought.

“I’ll go with Lila, get off me!”

Holding a squirming Michael, Vincent glanced at Lucas in confusion, then turned away.

He saw the murderous mint-coloured eyes.

“Lila!”

Michael stammered and disappeared out the door. Lila glanced over at Lucas, confused.

“Hmm, Luca…”

Lucas quickly pounced on her as she called out to him. Climbing on top of her, he glared at her intensely.

“Lila.”

There was a trickle of blood on the nape of her neck that he hadn’t wiped away. Lucas stared at it for a moment, trembling.

“Lucas?”

She called out to him, knowing full well it was wrong, but he didn’t take his eyes off the nape of her neck.

Her scent mingled with the smell of blood, giving off a strange scent. Lucas brushed away the blood with his fingers as if mesmerised.

He held his fingertips to the tip of his nose and smelled her scent strongly. The sweet scent, even of Lila’s blood, made Lucas more ferocious.

Slamming his hand down on her wrist to stop her squirming, he asked in a voice that hid his frustration.

“What the hell were you thinking, huh?”

Lucas bit his lip tightly as he ran a lazy hand across her bruised cheek, as if she’d never been hurt.

Blood seemed to trickle from his reddened lips. Blushing furiously, he spoke pleadingly.

“Please, save yourself.”

It was Lucas who was holding her in a suffocating embrace, but he was the one looking rather smothered.

Lucas pleaded with Lila, who looked at him with wide, shaking eyes.

“Please don’t get hurt…”

Lucas lowered his head, the words slipping out weakly. Gently rubbing his head against the nape of her neck, he lowered his body to press against hers.

Lila moved into his arms, unable to move, her lips parted.

“Haa…”

Exhaling deeply, he whispered into her ear.

“Promise me, you won’t get hurt.”

His words sounded like a command, but his body, his heart, spoke for itself.

Lila could feel his heart beating louder than hers, his body shuddering intermittently, and she let out a small gasp.

“I’m sorry.”

She could tell how worried he was, his scent soothing her. That alone made Lila’s eyes water.

“I’m so sorry for worrying you, Lucas.”

At her apology, Lucas buried his nose in the nape of her neck and shook his head.

“Don’t apologize, promise me you won’t get hurt again.”

Lila wanted to respond to his pleading words, but the tightening grip of his arms prevented her from saying anything.

Lucas, oblivious to her condition, murmured without removing his face from the nape of her neck.

“Do you want me to restrain you? Do you want me to ignore your freedom and keep you locked up?”

Growing increasingly furious at her lack of response, Lucas continued in a voice tinged with menace.

“I want to lock you away where no one can see you, only me… So that you can’t live without me… That’s how I want to bind you.”

Hugging her tightly with his whole body, with both arms, Lucas slowly raised his head.

His cobalt-coloured eyes fluttered as he took in her devastated expression. His face contorted in a vaguely painful way, he slowly raised his upper body.

Her breath finally broke free. Gently stroking her panting cheek, Lucas murmured.

“I wouldn’t be able to do that, your smile is too beautiful, so please…”

Lucas whispered as he gently lowered the face he had lifted.

“Please, promise me you won’t get hurt.”

“… I promise.”

As if her answer was a signal, Lucas pressed his lips roughly against hers. Hot, wet lips sucking hers.

His tongue flicked wildly, like couldn’t resist. He sucked, licked, and nibbled at her tiny tongue with reckless abandon.

He bit and tugged at her plump lower lip.

“Hmph.”

His scent swirled around her like a storm, and Lila felt her body heat up. Sweet and green, his scent reminded her vaguely of chocolate.

Like bittersweet chocolate, it was addictive.

She put her hands on his shoulders.

Lucas’s tongue swam as he passionately stroked her body.

The sound of his saliva slurping past her ears. Opening her lips to take him in, Lila felt shame at the sound.

Fluttering her eyelashes, Lila gripped his shoulders hard.

“Hummm…”

A long sigh escaped between their parted lips, the transparent thread connecting them barely breaking.

“Lala…”

He whispered her name softly, and then their lips met again, his tongue plunging in deep, fluid as a water snake slicing through water.

He prodded and licked as if he would leave his mark deep inside. The slurping sound of his saliva-soaked lips filled the otherwise silent room.

With a thud, the falling garments piled up, revealing more and more of her pure white naked body, hard with muscle.

Running his hands over her skin, Lucas still coveted her mouth.

“Ooooh…”

Lila squeaked as she threw her arms around his neck, her heated body shaking.

Lucas roamed her body like it was his own, leaving his marks all over her like branding her.

Her flesh was so white even when he didn’t squeeze hard, and his pressure was strong.

Lucas felt a surge of love for her that matched the innocence of her first steps in the pure white snow.

He slipped a finger between her lips and explored every inch of her mouth. At the mere reminder of the act, Lila felt as if her entire body was on fire.

“Hmmm.”

Lucas stroked her rippling body and moved his lips slowly.

Lila calmed her gasping breathing as the kiss slowed. But unlike the slower movements, the force of his tongue was strong, bringing another wave of pleasure.

Slipping his hands behind Lila’s knees, Lucas lifted one of her legs.

His tongue, still swimming lazily, skimmed evenly over the roof of her mouth and her teeth.

He hooked her leg between his arms, his hands gently squeezing the plump flesh.

The lazy tongue, the slow strokes, made Lila squirm, but only for a moment, as he invaded her wetness. It was as if his tongue coveted her lips, and his moving fingertips sent her up on her toes.

“Ah!”

Lila jerked her head back. A long line of saliva tangled and dripped from her parted lips.

His eyes caught a glimpse of the blood stained on her exposed white nape, and he licked at her nape without hesitation. As if he would not tolerate dirt on her.

“Ah, stop, dirty…”

She wanted to say, “Don’t do it because it’s dirty,” but his fingers held her speechless. The overwhelming sensation brought tears to her eyes.

“Haa…”

Lucas raised his upper body with his arms supporting him, and his shapely eyes scanned her face.

His eyes, red and glazed, were pleasurable, and her legs in his arms were rattling. She tugged him back to her, spreading his legs.

Perfectly enveloped, he let out a sigh.

“Hmm, Lala.”

Overlapping as if to suck him in, they tangled like layers of clothing on the floor.

He nipped at her collarbone in a sudden, deliberate move.

“Hhmh.”

A stinging sensation, then a rush of erotic pleasure. He leaned back, his tongue curling her relaxed toes.

His movements were simultaneously ferocious. His growing desire grew uncontrollably.

Like his heart.

His insatiable, ever-growing appetite pushed him beyond the limits of reason and instinct. Rationally, he wanted to understand and care for her; instinctively, he wanted to obsess and desire her.

All these things came together, and there was nothing but longing and love for her.

“Aah!”

Lila gasped like a drowning man, for she had indeed been drowning.

She felt as if she had fallen down a waterfall, his scent falling towards her like a torrent of water.

The scent filled the room like a flood. Lila couldn’t think straight with the pleasure swirling through her head.

All she could do was reach out to him desperately.

Clinging to his interlocking hands, Lila moaned. It was only a matter of time before the heat from her lower belly rose to the top of her head.

Her back arched like a taut bowstring. Lucas, reaching his own climax, tugged on her arm and leaned back.

As they climaxed together, he lay back, grunting.

On top of him, Lila’s face was frozen, her hair loose and exuding a lascivious aura.

Lucas whispered in a low, cracked voice as he gently pushed her hair away from her face.

“Keep your word. I’m going to show you today what happens if you don’t…”

As he gazed intently into her face, Lucas gripped her strong waist.

Lila’s cobalt eyes widened as she pressed her hands against his hard chest in confusion.

She could only squeeze her eyes shut at his suddenly revived senses.