Chapter 1
I.
An afternoon when beautiful sunlight shone upon the bountiful earth.
Giselle’s fiancé, Grand Duke Raven Barietsch, visited the Vellasi Count’s family without a word. After demanding a private audience with her, the first thing he did was undress Giselle.
The man, black from head to toe and ominous beyond measure, seized Giselle by the wrist, forced her to stand before the dressing room mirror, and began taking off the dress that had wrapped her up tightly like armor.
As if barging into her room without warning weren’t enough, his hand reached for her roughly, and Giselle, flustered, immediately pushed his touch away.
“What are you doing right now? Stop it, Your Highness. Let go of my ha—”
But Raven paid no mind to her fierce resistance and stripped off her dress as if tearing it away.
Just as Giselle’s voice was gradually rising at his rude behavior, he opened his mouth.
“Did you think that if you secretly went out dressed like that, you could deceive my eyes?”
A sinister yet low voice flowed into Giselle’s ear. At the same time, Giselle’s body, which had been resisting violently, stiffened.
Her startled face was reflected completely in the large full-length mirror. Her blue eyes couldn’t hide her agitation and were wavering from side to side.
“I don’t know why you’re looking at me with those eyes. Don’t tell me you thought I wouldn’t know at all where you went last night.”
As if mocking her foolishness, Raven laughed low. Giselle stared at his face reflected in the mirror as if demanding an explanation. But he ignored the gaze fixed on him and merely continued taking off her dress.
Beneath the bright sunlight, her porcelain skin was revealed, and his pitch-black eyes swept over her flawless, spotless skin.
Each time his gaze touched her, Giselle’s terrified body trembled helplessly.
“…Fortunately, it seems you didn’t sleep with another man. It also seems there was no contact anywhere other than your hand.”
“……”
“Though I don’t know whether I should call this fortunate.”
Raven added with a sneer. Even in the midst of this, his gaze was fixed solely on Giselle, on her vivid blue eyes.
“Was the time you spent holding hands and dancing with that young lord so enjoyable? While with me, your fiancé, you’re always careful that we don’t dance, let alone that even a single strand of hair might touch me.”
“……”
“If I had my way, I’d like to cut off the hand he was holding… but if I did that, you wouldn’t be able to stroke my hair, so this time as well, I’ll endure it. The one who falls in love first is bound to lose.”
“…How on earth.”
As if her sharp rejection of him moments ago had been rendered meaningless, a dry, brittle, hollow voice flowed from Giselle.
“How on earth did you know where I went last night?”
“Ahh. My beautiful and foolish fiancée, Giselle.”
At her question, Raven let out a deep sigh and caressed her cheek, which had hardened with anxiety. When their skin touched, Giselle’s trembling became even more distinct.
“There is no one in this world who can deceive my eyes. From what you can imagine to what you cannot imagine, I can know anything.”
“……”
“So I can know that you woke up late yesterday, near noon, ate well-brewed black tea and scones with strawberry jam spread on them, and that at lunch, you walked through the garden and stood for an especially long time in front of the flower bed planted with red tulips. I can know that although you did nothing, you lied that you were tired and went to bed early, then ran along the dawn road to attend the banquet hosted by Marquis Lawrence, and on top of that, you accepted without the slightest refusal the dance requests of the young lords who were looking over your body.”
As if he had seen it all with his own two eyes, every single detail of Giselle’s actions flowed from Raven’s mouth.
At that moment, goosebumps rose along Giselle’s spine.
Right now, Raven was kindly telling her that she was in the palm of his hand, and that no matter what she did, no matter how much she struggled, she could never escape him.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.