Chapter 17
‘Why on earth would anyone go into the pond?’
Did she plant some kind of trap in there?
Though only briefly, Dominic had served in the military and had seen all manner of deadly devices.
He’d witnessed mining dynamite modified for killing people, and box-shaped traps powerful enough to cause devastating explosions.
No… that can’t be it. Gunpowder would be useless once it got wet. Then was she trying to poison the water instead?
Arriving at the pond with lingering suspicion, Dominic spotted Irene in the middle of it, her face drained of all color. The moment he saw her, every one of his suspicions vanished.
She wasn’t carrying out some elaborate scheme. She had simply fallen into the water.
“Sigh…”
Meanwhile, Irene, who had been doing nothing but darting her eyes around above the water lapping at her chin, lit up the instant she saw him.
“Your Grace! Please get me out! I have the broom right here! It’s—”
The moment she raised the broom in her right hand to show him, she lurched dangerously to one side.
“Oh, right. I was bracing myself with my right foot.”
Irene muttered in despair as her body suddenly dropped. Her brown hair slipped beneath the surface. Just as the muddy water rushed mercilessly over her, someone seized her left arm and hauled her upward.
“Relax. Stop struggling.”
A low voice cut through her panic.
Overwhelmed with relief at having something, someone, to cling to, Irene coughed violently as she wrapped both arms around him with all her strength. Then, like a thunderclap, his voice exploded in her ear.
“For heaven’s sake, relax! Stop fighting me, so I can pull you out!”
“How am I supposed to relax…?”
“Ugh…”
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Dominic slid one arm firmly around her slender waist and started moving.
“You’re not going to drown. Relax. The pond isn’t that deep.”
Perhaps it was because his strong arm supported her, but as Dominic practically dragged her toward shore, Irene’s panic eased considerably.
“Easy for someone freakishly tall to say, Your Grace…”
Even in a situation like this, she still had the nerve to argue back. Dominic gave her a look of utter disbelief before deliberately loosening his hold.
“Ahh!… Huh?”
Bereft of his support, Irene pitched forward. Yet, contrary to her fears, the water only reached a little above her waist. It didn’t surge up over her face.
Somehow, the bank had already come within arm’s reach.
Dominic climbed out first. As he wrung out the hem of his soaked clothes, he asked coldly:
“What exactly were you thinking?”
“Ah…”
Only then did Irene awkwardly clamber out of the pond herself, her eyes darting about in embarrassment. Even after all that, Chloe’s hat was still clutched tightly in her left hand. The broom, though… it must have sank to the bottom.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why did you do something you have to apologize for in the first place? When did I ever tell you to go splashing around in the pond with Chloe? And if you were going into the water, you should’ve brought a few maids with you. Does this honestly strike you as something any sensible person with an ounce of common sense would do?”
Hands planted on his hips, Dominic scolded her in utter exasperation. Irene could only respond with silence.
It was embarrassing — at her age, she was being scolded not by her parents, but by her employer.
Lowering her head, Irene kept her gaze fixed on the ground, clutching Chloe’s hat tightly in both hands. She was too exhausted to explain everything. And besides, it didn’t seem like he would listen anyway.
Then something caught her eye.
Below the hand resting on his hip, his rain-soaked trousers clung tightly to his legs, outlining the firm muscles beneath. Without warning, she remembered the solid strength of the arm that had wrapped around her waist, followed by the low voice that had echoed in her ear.
‘Relax.’
He had only been giving instructions to keep her from drowning. So why had it sounded so… suggestive? Heat flooded Irene’s face, which had only moments ago been pale with shock.
‘Irene! Have you completely lost your mind?’
She darted her eyes around, desperately trying to think of something else, but thoughts so closely tied to instinct refused to leave her.
Her gaze flicked, just for an instant, to the powerful thigh stretching the black fabric of his trousers taut. The vivid dream she’d had only days ago came rushing back.
The forceful thrust of his hips. Thighs like solid stone, pinning her legs so she couldn’t move. The overwhelming fullness that had stretched her to her limits…
A strange warmth coiled low in her abdomen. Irene gasped softly and, before she realized it, lifted her head. Waiting for her were a pair of piercing blue eyes.
“…How can you possibly be daydreaming right now?”
His voice, laced with anger, came out in a barely audible whisper.
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