Chapter 15
“Mm…!”
Startled by the sudden warmth of another person’s lips, Lucia instinctively turned her head away. The man gave a low growl.
“You’d better not. Unless you’d rather I collect something far more valuable than the price of my death.”
As though that fleeting kiss had been nothing more than a tease, Killian parted his lips wider.
His warm tongue slowly swept across the cold, numb flesh inside her mouth, sharing its heat. Her soft b*****s pressed helplessly against his solid chest.
“Mmph… mm…”
With her mouth completely occupied, she couldn’t even manage to protest. No, he skillfully drained her will to resist before she could even think to.
“Mmh…”
As her breath tangled with that of a complete stranger, heat flooded her face.
His tongue wandered unhurriedly through her small mouth, lingering over every tender spot, drawing slow, possessive kisses from her lips.
The intensity of it was enough to make her head tip backward.
“Mmh… s-stop… I… can’t breathe…”
“Just a little longer.”
He clung to her with the ravenous enthusiasm of someone tasting something truly delicious for the first time. He didn’t even seem aware of it himself.
“More.”
He greedily swallowed even her saliva, leaving nothing behind.
By the time Lucia tried to push him away, she found herself instead clinging weakly to him, breathing in short gasps.
The unabashed kiss finally came to an end when a faint rustle sounded from behind them.
Killian looked past Lucia. Meeting the gaze of whoever stood behind her, he smiled without bothering to hide the excitement still lingering in his eyes.
“That’s enough for today.”
What had begun as a brief kiss only ended after it had thoroughly left Lucia in disarray.
She could barely close her swollen lips, her breathing still ragged.
Killian brushed away the moisture gathering at the corners of her unfocused eyes with his thumb before speaking in a low voice.
“Take care of the rest yourself. I’ll collect what you owe me another time.”
Before Lucia could even process what had happened, he turned and walked away.
She had no idea why he’d suddenly kissed her. She had no idea what he wanted from her. She hadn’t even learned his name.
As she stood there, lost in confusion, a gloomy voice called out from behind her.
“Lucia…”
It was her fiancé, Ian.
Chapter 2. The Past
It was a bitterly cold spring.
The day Lucia left the Florianne household for a new home, the wind was far too sharp to be called spring.
Morning sunlight, still unable to erase winter’s lingering chill, shone so brightly it stung her eyes.
Young Lucia squinted against the icy light.
“Your name is Lucia, isn’t it? Lucia. You won’t have to suffer like that anymore.”
“…”
“We’ll make sure those awful people get what’s coming to them!”
The child silently looked up at the social worker speaking so cheerfully.
“And the family you’re going to now is wonderful. So wonderful that you’ll forget those horrible people from the Florianne household ever existed. You won’t have to work anymore, and you’ll never have to sleep on the floor again.”
Seeing the distrust in the girl’s empty gaze, the social worker squeezed her small hand and hurriedly added,
“Don’t worry, Lucia. From now on, your days will only get better.”
Perhaps it was because she’d seen the child lying on the frozen floor without so much as a blanket. The social worker who had rescued Lucia kept trying to brighten the girl’s expression with hopeful stories.
‘Better days.’
But not even those hopeful promises could soften the child’s face.
Once, she’d dreamed about the future. But survival had forced her to grow up too soon. It had taught her to give up far too early.
A child who had already grown accustomed to resignation couldn’t even bring herself to react when told she would be living with a wealthy family.
The first crack in that blank expression came only when she met the Lancaster family’s angel.
“U-Um… hello. I’m Ian.”
She had never seen anyone so beautiful.
Looking at Ian Lancaster, Lucia found herself thinking, So this is what actors look like.
The thought lasted only a moment.
“There’s no need to become attached to her, Ian. She’s only staying here temporarily.”
At those words, Lucia quietly closed the mouth she’d just opened.
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