Chapter 59
A Perilous Tug-of-War
“It’s nice to have someone to talk to like this.”
“I agree. I’ve enjoyed our conversation very much,” Delphine replied quickly.
Thanks to her, Delphine had picked up a good deal of useful information today.
This talkative lady was certain to become a valuable source in the future.
“Please come visit me like this from time to time… My life is always rather lonely,” Lady Megan said with a faint, sorrowful smile.
It felt as though Delphine had glimpsed the woman’s true self for a moment—beneath the lively, chatty mask.
Delphine responded with a touch of genuine feeling,
“Of course. Let’s see each other often.”
As she left the dazzlingly ornate drawing room, Delphine fell into thought.
If the Emperor himself had mediated the matter, then perhaps she could get more details from Ioann.
He was, after all, the Emperor’s most favored hero and the captain of the Imperial Guard.
When he returned home that evening, she would coax him gently and find out more.
But the moment she made that decision, the image of him smiling lazily at her, the corners of his eyes narrowing, and the firm solidity of his body pressed against hers flashed through her mind.
Suddenly her heart clenched as if squeezed.
…It must be because I have to play the coquette with such a cruel man.
Yes—that anxiety and distaste were surely the cause.
Blaming the sudden flutter in her chest on that, Delphine stepped into her carriage, confident she could once again engage in that dangerous tug-of-war—only up to the exact point where she could melt him, and no further.
…Perhaps I was wrong.
In the dimly lit bedchamber, just as evening had fallen, Delphine tried her best not to look overly awkward or flustered as she asked,
“What… exactly is this…?”
“Who knows,” Ioann murmured lazily in her ear, his thin shirt brushing her as he held her close.
“I’m simply enjoying my wife’s welcome after a long, exhausting day.”
“…”
Delphine barely stifled a startled sound at his increasingly intimate touch.
This was not the scenario she had envisioned.
The trouble had begun when she offered to help him change after he came home unusually early.
She had planned to take his jacket, wait while he removed the rest, and casually steer the conversation toward the duel between the Duke and the Marquis—mentioning her perfectly ordinary visit to Lady Megan’s, the sort of outing any noblewoman might make.
But instead, he had pulled her straight into his arms.
Flustered, Delphine fumbled at the thick forearm wrapped around her waist.
“If you’re tired from your schedule, you should… wash up and rest—”
—wouldn’t that be better?
But she never finished.
Because Ioann buried his face in the curve of her neck and inhaled deeply.
The alien sensation of his breath against bare skin made her flinch.
“W-what are you…?”
“Resting, my lady,” came his languid reply, muffled against her shoulder.
But while his voice remained calm and unhurried, his large hands were doing something else entirely.
I’d better just ask quickly and get this over with.
Determined, Delphine ignored the way his touch drifted over her body and forced herself to speak.
“…I went to visit Lady Megan today. She looked quite healthy.”
“Mhm. Is that so?”
“Yes. And… you know of the Purcell ducal family, don’t you, Ioann?”
His gentle caress was starting to send strange sensations through her.
Clinging to her slipping reason, she pressed on.
“I do,” he answered simply, still with his head against her neck.
“I heard… ah— that His Majesty personally mediated the Duke’s duel recently.”
“He did.”
“Have you heard anything about it? Lady Megan was curious.”
“I have… because I was there at the mediation.”
I knew it.
It had been the right choice to ask him.
Of course, she had never predicted the present circumstances.
“…I see.”
Trying not to betray her surprise, Delphine asked as casually as she could,
“Then… do you know why the Marquis challenged him to a duel?”
“Mm… I didn’t pay much attention. From what I caught, it had to do with the young duke and the young marquis.”
“…Over what, exactly? Ah—”
Ioann’s touch was becoming bolder, unstoppable.
Delphine’s pale cheeks had long since ripened into the color of a well-matured apple.
The soft yet insistent strokes sent a tingling sensation unfurling from her lower belly.
Ordinarily, she would have pulled away at once.
But she still had more to hear.
Delphine gave the unusually slow-speaking Ioann a gentle prod.
“Hmm? Over what?”
“…That, Marquis Humphries refused to say.”
With that, Ioann suddenly lifted her in his arms and set her down on the bed.
Startled, she looked up at him—only for him to brace his hands on either side of her, leaning in close.
The proximity made her flinch, their breaths mingling in the narrow space between them.
“…Do you wish to know more, my lady?” he whispered.
And Delphine instantly understood—he was no longer talking about the duel.
She had to stop this here.
But his burning gaze seemed to paralyze her.
Was this strange melting sensation in her body just another form of magic he wielded?
“…”
When she gave no answer, he slowly raised a hand.
His large palm cupped her heated cheek gently.
He moved toward her lips with such deliberate slowness, as if to say she could avoid him if she wished.
…And Delphine did not avoid him.
At the first contact, something unfamiliar surged into her like a tide.
It wasn’t their first kiss—he had once kissed her like a man possessed after seeing the scars on her back.
But despite being the same man, the same lips, tonight felt entirely different.
Not rough and feral, but soft… leaving her feeling weightless.
She had always known this could happen someday if she kept trying to seduce him.
But she had never expected to feel this.
He was the enemy.
A man reputed to be so cruel.
So why were his lips so soft and sweet?
The thought of extracting information from him had long since vanished.
After a long, slow exploration, their lips parted.
Her eyes opened to find him watching her with an expression as if he wanted to devour her whole.
…Could it be that she wore the same expression now?
Why am I like this?
Was this what it meant for a man and woman to press their bodies together?
Even without love.
Even when she was sure he didn’t truly love her either—something still passed between their joined lips.
“Delphine…”
He spoke her name like a tender plea, and her reason scattered again.
“…Ioann.”
Their lips met once more, her hands winding naturally around the back of his neck.
The thought that she was only acting—that she was only pretending to make him love her—was long gone.
I can’t think at all.
She just wanted him deeper, further—
What am I thinking?!
Delphine startled as though burned and pushed herself away.
“Delphine…”
But Ioann looked neither disappointed nor regretful.
If anything, his face was suffused with a strange ecstasy.
“G-go downstairs and…!”
She abandoned her attempt at an excuse and fled from the room.
Left alone, Pride straightened, a smile twisting his lips with a hint of madness.
I’ve found it.
A way to keep her at his side forever.
A way to draw her eyes away from the merciless truth those rats were so desperate to uncover.
She had once been a saint far beyond his reach, and at times the object of his love-hate.
But now she was simply his rightful wife.
So under the guise of marriage, in the name of love—
If he could make her look only at him…
They could remain happy together forever, in this candy-coated world.
Having reached that twisted conclusion, Pride smiled quietly in the dark room.
It was an act.
A thoroughly convincing one.
Curled up on the sofa in the library, Delphine touched her lips absently, confusion clouding her expression.
She had simply been swept up in his heat without realizing, because she had immersed herself too deeply in the role.
From the start, he was a man with animal instincts.
If she hadn’t committed herself so fully, she could never have fooled him.
That was all it was.
No matter that they were currently bound together as husband and wife.
No matter that she had been given the mission to make him fall in love with her.
This is not love.
In the brightly lit library, Delphine quietly closed her eyes, reaffirming that resolve to herself.
