Chapter 108
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Dear, I believe you may be misunderstanding.
Chapter 108
*Pop—click—*
With each button that came undone, another fragment of Lucas Black's reason seemed to scatter into the air.
Of course, unfastening a button didn't immediately bare her skin beneath.
But...
The sight of Grace Oellin deliberately meeting his gaze while undoing each button was far too indecent.
His body's response was instantaneous and overwhelming.
His breath quickened, and tension coiled through his thighs as he fought to maintain composure.
Lucas Black clenched his fists, struggling to rein himself in.
'I can't lose control already...'
Her slender fingers moved past the second button, reaching the third.
Her fingertips, flushed as deeply as her face, clouded his vision.
*Pop—*
Another button surrendered far too quickly for her leisurely pace.
*Gulp.*
His thick throat convulsed visibly.
Her gaze traced rhythmically upward and downward across his neck, following its contours.
'Damn it.'
Lucas Black, who had been standing transfixed watching her hands move, gritted his teeth.
Even attempting a deep breath proved futile against the quickening of his pulse.
Merely holding onto his reason demanded every ounce of his willpower.
"...May I... finish unfastening them?"
His voice emerged rough and gravelly, thick with restraint.
Desire seemed trapped within those words, escaping in heated, trembling breaths.
Grace Oellin, startled, nodded hesitantly.
Gathering her courage, she stepped closer to him.
Her delicate, flushed fingertips withdrew, replaced by his large, powerful ones.
Hands so massive they could tear through mere buttons in a single motion.
Yet those hands worked with deliberate care, unfastening each button with restraint.
One, two, three.
When finally all the buttons came free, Grace Oellin found herself drawing a sharp, involuntary breath.
In that moment, her racing heart swelled to bursting.
"..."
"..."
Both stood speechless, their eyes locked upon each other.
Though their flushed faces bore no distinct expression, the intensity burning in their intertwined gazes spoke volumes of the emotions surging between them.
Yearning, fervor, affection, exhilaration, anticipation, desire... and relief.
The relief of knowing that he wanted this moment just as desperately as she did.
They gazed at one another before slowly closing their eyes.
I felt our faces drawing closer and sensed the warmth of breath mingling between us.
Then, slowly—so very slowly—our lips met.
The soft flesh seemed to meld into one, pressing together.
His upper lip enveloped mine, savoring the taste with unhurried tenderness before gradually parting.
It was scorching.
A kiss that burned with heat and trembled with intensity.
"...Lucas."
The moment I breathed his name like a moan, Lucas Black's reason shattered completely.
He slipped both hands beneath my arms and lifted me effortlessly.
My dress, which had been precariously clinging to my shoulders, slipped away, revealing the delicate slip dress I wore beneath.
The muscles of Lucas Black's arms tensed as he pulled me closer.
I felt the hardened sinew, rigid with strain, pressing against my palms.
'The General is nervous too... Lucas is tense.'
That realization brought me comfort.
His eyes, reflecting the same urgency and desperation I felt, reassured me.
'This man desires me. So desperately....'
Without a word, his entire body spoke the truth as he held me aloft.
The taut physique tensed with anticipation and eyes that betrayed his uncertainty.
Even his jaw clenched with barely restrained need.
Lucas Black set me gently on the edge of the bathtub's railing and shed his cumbersome clothes.
Unlike the careful way he had unfastened my buttons, his shirt was torn open without restraint.
Pop—pop-pop!
"...!"
I gasped in surprise, watching the buttons scatter away.
"...I couldn't wait."
He laughed sheepishly.
I found myself laughing along with him.
Then I caught sight of the sculpted, muscular form revealed beneath his fully opened shirt.
I was nearly mesmerized, unable to tear my gaze from his perfectly defined physique.
It was utterly unlike any female form I had ever witnessed.
Unlike my own flat, slender abdomen, his abdominal muscles were carved into distinct segments—almost miraculous in their definition.
Sensing my gaze, Lucas Black stepped closer and took my hand.
"Would you like to touch?"
"...Am I allowed to?"
He laughed as though the answer were obvious.
"I intend to touch you too... Must I ask permission each time, Grace?"
Touch? What...?
My sluggish mind finally grasped the implication.
My already flushed face burned an even deeper crimson.
Lucas Black brought the back of my hand to his lips and kissed it.
His lips traced upward along her softly glowing wrist, climbing toward her shoulder.
His breath alone brushed against her skin without even touching, and she felt it awaken with exquisite sensitivity.
Only when he drew near her ear did he speak.
"May I kiss your neck?"
Seeing her startled reaction, he asked again.
"Your earlobe?"
"...Lucas."
She wanted to tell him to stop teasing, but his approaching lips were far too close.
Their breaths mingled for a moment, and I found myself waiting for his kiss to come.
Yet he remained surprisingly composed, merely gazing at me.
Was this what an obedient Doberman felt like?
"...Honestly."
I exhaled with some irritation, seizing the wide-open collar of his shirt.
He was infuriating—boiling just as intensely as I was, yet stubbornly restraining himself to tease me.
So I kissed him first.
"...!"
Startled, his lips parted, and I seized the opportunity, my tongue boldly slipping between them.
My cautious tongue traced the edge of his teeth, touching the rigid muscle beneath.
A sound escaped him—something like a groan.
His fist, corded with tension, gripped my smooth shoulder.
'More, just a little more....'
I asked no permission as my hand swept across his firmly defined abdomen.
Feeling that stone-hard muscle quiver beneath my small touch sent a delicious thrill through me.
I grew bolder, reaching further.
As my fingers traced past his abs to the taut muscles of his side, a low breath escaped between our joined lips.
"Grace...."
My name spilled from him in a restrained voice, and it sounded intoxicating.
He could endure no longer, pulling me into his embrace as he stepped into the bath.
There was no time to remove the cumbersome clothes completely.
We were both soaked and desperate.
The warmth of the water, the sweet fragrance of our bodies, drew us both into a world of pleasure without thought.
The temperature of the water rippling at chest height was as warm as his overflowing affection.
Damp and scorching, yet none of it mattered.
We simply coveted each other, caressed each other, and struggled to touch more.
Beneath the hazy steam, exposed skin clouded Lucas's vision.
Similarly, I was busy climbing onto his body in the splashing water, holding him without a single gap between us.
The moment I settled onto his abdomen, my face flushed.
This was already the third time in this position.
Each time, something of his made its massive presence known, pressing against me.
Even now, there was an ominous, imposing presence that seemed ready to consume me at any moment.
"So that's what this is about...."
She swallowed hard, her voice trembling slightly with apprehension as she whispered.
"Gently... slowly, please."
The point where they touched quivered.
It didn't matter whose trembling it was.
They drew closer, their eyes fixed on each other's rising and falling chests.
"If you promise not to shatter my reason, which you're barely holding together...."
His words meant he couldn't endure another provocation like before.
Grace Oellin nodded, her wet eyes glistening.
The thin garments clinging precariously to them both fell away.
Lucas Black gazed upon her bare skin and smooth curves with reverent wonder.
Then he showered every visible inch with worshipful kisses.
"Ah."
An ambiguous sound—whether of surprise or ticklish delight—escaped her throat.
She felt the warm, moist softness against her sensitized skin.
Her toes curled, and goosebumps rose along her spine.
Between lips that barely managed to breathe, a ragged voice broke free unbidden.
Unable to bear the spinning of her vision, Grace Oellin closed her eyes.
Throughout that night when they were intertwined, the sound of water never ceased, drenching everything.
* * *
"...Still hasn't come out?"
Selena entered the Dining Room for breakfast and asked incredulously at the single place setting prepared.
Butler Gabriel bowed deeply as he replied.
"He plans not to emerge until tomorrow."
"What... the madman."
Selena found herself cursing her eldest son without thinking.
After spending considerable time hurling unladylike epithets at her firstborn, she leaned back against her chair.
"Then just bring me a glass of juice."
Everything was cleared away except for a single warm butter roll.
The weather was lovely and time abundant, yet there was no one to keep her company.
'How melancholy.... Sob.'
She gazed out the window, dabbing at her eyes with her fingertips as if tears might fall.
Lucas Black's Separate Residence came faintly into view.
"Sigh... that stubborn man. Three days without showing his face."
Already the third day.
She hadn't glimpsed even a single strand of Grace Oellin's hair, let alone Lucas Black.
She worried he might remain cloistered in the Separate Residence all the way until their departure for Contana.
"I was thinking of inviting guests tomorrow...."
She was concerned about Grace Oellin's condition.
Lucas, with his body seemingly made entirely of muscle, could manage on his own, but our small, precious Grace—unlike her brother—was delicate and fragile.
"This won't do, Cotti. Prepare some special dishes for the Separate Residence."
"My goodness, I've already been gathering and preparing goat dishes, eel dishes, garlic, Chinese chives, duck, and even Eastern ginseng since yesterday."
Just hearing about such dishes made it seem as though one's entire body would burn with heat.
Selena, who had shuddered involuntarily, sighed as she spoke.
"Those dishes should be going into Grace's mouth, not Lucas's."
"That's precisely my concern, madam."
"...No, Lucas has his own thoughts. He'll handle it as he sees fit."
She, who had been eating savory butter bread spread with sweet strawberry jam, gazed up at the fluffy clouds drifting across the sky.
The clouds resembled a galloping horse.
Her most beloved red horse, at that.
"Come to think of it... Felix wouldn't let me rest for three days and nights either. I even struck his back and told him to stop tormenting me."
A smile crossed the face of the Previous Duke's widow as she recalled those distant memories.
Why did memories of him grow clearer with time rather than fade?
Was it because the time I loved him had been so excessively happy?
I harbored no regrets, yet the longing, the yearning, the emptiness was far too great.
"I miss you. Again..."
Today too, I missed my husband who had departed first far too much.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------