Chapter 2
Agnes casually brushed the back of her hand against Ergon’s chest, which stood firm like a solid wall before her.
“Well, that sort of thing doesn’t really matter. By the way, I hear you’re well-endowed?”
“…….”
She had mustered up great courage to say that, but there was no response.
“No answer? Don’t tell me, it’s not true?”
“……I didn’t say it wasn’t.”
Agnes couldn’t help but burst into laughter. So he really was the empire’s greatest playboy.
Then, suddenly feeling Ergon’s intense gaze, she wiped the smile from her lips.
Pull yourself together, Agnes. Don’t forget your purpose.
“Good to hear.”
Releasing her hand from Ergon’s chest, Agnes used her slender fingers to stroke her own collarbone. Naturally, Ergon’s eyes followed.
“I’m not small either, am I?”
“…….”
“You’re not saying no, are you?”
Agnes narrowed her eyes seductively and pressed her chest tightly against him. By now, he must be feeling the soft curves of her feminine body all over his. Though she had never dreamed of approaching the opposite sex like this before, she would do anything to find her older brother. Having died and come back to life several times already, it would be more surprising if she still had any reservations left.
“I’m fine right here.”
It was an obvious provocation, a blatant seduction. Flames ignited in Ergon’s emerald eyes.
“You’re fearless.”
Ergon wrapped his long arms around Agnes’s waist. Agnes flinched, tense.
The pressure was on a completely different level from when she had pressed against him. As if their two bodies were plastered together…
In that moment, Ergon’s face filled the startled Agnes’s field of vision.
Gleaming golden hair and green eyes in the moonlight, thick eyelashes, a straight nose bridge, and red lips. A face as beautiful as his reputation suggested. One needed to look this good to be a playboy.
Admiring Ergon’s looks anew, Agnes swallowed dryly.
“Shall we?”
There was no more time to delay. Balls at the House of Winchester usually ended by midnight.
Agnes’s smooth leg, slipping out from under her skirt, wrapped around the back of Ergon’s thigh. Her pale shin was now fully exposed.
“I’m not the type to pick a place.”
With a dangerous smile, Ergon grabbed Agnes’s shin. Then, lowering his lips onto hers, he moved his hand up toward her knee.
Their pressed lips parted, and Ergon’s tongue thrust inside. That tongue coaxed out the one hiding on the other side and coiled around it.
“Mmph, ngh.”
Wet, smacking sounds and moans followed. She had thought it would be just a matter of pressing flesh against another’s, but unexpectedly, her whole body quickly grew hot.
Agnes simply surrendered herself to whatever Ergon did. His tongue roamed freely inside her mouth, licking, sucking, and drawing in. Meanwhile, his hand had already passed her knee and was gripping her thigh.
Was it because he was a playboy? This man seemed far too skilled.
Just as Agnes was losing herself in an unfamiliar pleasure she had never felt before—
“Hmm, is this your first time?”
Ergon stretched his captivating lips into a long smile and gripped Agnes’s chin. Then he whispered against her lips again.
“For someone who approached so boldly, you’re clumsy.”
Agnes could only gasp for breath, unable to say anything. Because it was her first time, she hadn’t known how to breathe and had just held her breath without thinking.
“Well, I like it anyway.”
Muttering, Ergon slipped his hand into Agnes’s voluminous hair and held the back of her head. Then he twisted his head to reveal deeper desire—
Bam!
Suddenly, the balcony door swung wide open. Ergon and Agnes turned their faces at the same time.
Several nobles entered the balcony. Among them was Victoria, who had been searching for Ergon.
“Agnes!”
Victoria shrieked at the sight of Ergon and Agnes tangled together.
“Y-you, right now…!”
She screamed and then fainted on the spot.
Slap!
The moment she saw Victoria enter the balcony, Agnes had foreseen this situation.
Her aunt Charlotte swung her hand without mercy. Agnes’s cheek burned, and her head rang.
Agnes did not resist and sank to the floor. Charlotte struck her fallen niece’s cheek again.
Slap!
Both cheeks grew hot as if burned. She tasted metal in her mouth.
Shortly after Victoria had collapsed, her uncle George and aunt Charlotte had rushed over. George took the unconscious Victoria to her bedroom, while Charlotte dragged Agnes to another room.
“How dare someone like you lay a hand on His Grace the Duke?”
Charlotte had been furious as soon as she closed the door and did not hesitate to raise her hand. It was hardly surprising. Since her older brother Enoch had disappeared, Agnes had always been the family’s punching bag.
“You filthy thing…!”
Charlotte’s strong hand shoved Agnes’s head. Agnes clenched her teeth as she fell helplessly. She already knew that resisting would only hurt herself.
Swoosh. In her vision, tilted toward the floor, she saw the hem of Charlotte’s pale purple dress. For the first time, Agnes felt the urge to touch it.
Until now, she had always tried never to touch others.
Because she never knew what she might see.
Afflicted with an ability that showed her visions of anything she touched, all she had seen since childhood were terrible scenes.
She had seen servants beaten to death, corpses drenched in blood, and otherwise, only fights or scenes filled with curses.
But today was different. She had seen a well-made-up, middle-aged boutique madam kissing Ergon’s handkerchief.
So she understood: what she saw wasn’t necessarily always frightening.
And she became certain. Though she didn’t know why, the visions she saw were memories of whatever she touched. It happened regardless of whether she touched a person or an object.
Agnes unclenched her fist. Then she slowly reached forward and grabbed Charlotte’s hem.
With a faint headache, a young man in Winchester family livery flashed through her mind. He was embracing Charlotte around the waist. Anyone could see it was a secret tryst.
“What do you think you’re doing? Let go!”
Charlotte recoiled in disgust and kicked Agnes’s hand away with her foot. Agnes fell flat onto the carpet. But inwardly, she rejoiced.
“You should tell Uncle to dismiss all the young knights.”
“What?”
Agnes looked up at the high ceiling and continued slowly.
“Because it seems a knight of the house, who should be loyal to the Earl, has dared to embrace you, Aunt.”
“What are you saying!”
Charlotte’s face, turning red and pale by turns, came into Agnes’s view. Agnes wiggled her finger at her.
“Pick me up right now.”
Charlotte’s expression shifted instantly. Seeing her aunt’s face harden in shock, Agnes curled up the corners of her mouth.
“Before I find that knight and send him to Uncle.”
Agnes had never seen her aunt so flustered. She felt a twinge of thrill.
Just then, a breeze from the window rattled the door. A shadow that had been peeking into the room through the narrow gap started, closed the door, and hurriedly disappeared somewhere.
At that moment, Ergon was keeping watch by his fiancée Victoria’s bedside, where she lay pale-faced on the bed.
But his mind was still on the balcony.
“You seem quite close with that boutique madam.”
She had said that clearly.
“Just there, I saw a lipstick mark.”
Sinking into a chair, Ergon rubbed his temples with his index and middle fingers. The question did not easily settle.
‘How did she know that? Did the handkerchief smell of the boutique? And was there a lipstick mark from the madam on it?’
Unfortunately, he hadn’t had a chance to get the handkerchief back from her.
‘The boutique’s scent, maybe. But how was she so sure the lipstick mark belonged to the madam? It could have been from another young lady.’
“Hmm.”
Ergon let out a low hum and thought of Agnes. More precisely, the passionate kiss they had shared.
Sweet lips, a soft tongue, fragrant breath, and smooth skin.
She was a woman so bewitching that he had briefly lost his reason. But she was Victoria’s cousin.
When Ergon heard that fact from Earl George, he couldn’t help but laugh. Since then, a bitter taste had lingered in his mouth, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
