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Chapter 15
For a while, we stood there in silence. Droplets of water fell from the ends of my still-damp hair onto the carpet.
“…If you keep standing there, you’ll catch a cold.”
Taking advantage of my momentary confusion, he stepped closer, leaving only a small distance between us. At some point, the damp towel had already passed into his hands.
I was wearing nothing but a robe.
Just as he said, if I stayed like this, I really might catch a cold.
“Then do it in front of the fireplace.”
There was no reason to blush just because I was wearing a robe in front of a man. I’m too old to be nervous about something like this.
‘Then why am I trembling like this?’
It was warm, even stuffy in front of the fireplace, not cold. So why was I trembling? I quickly hid my fidgeting fingers under my sleeves. Whether he noticed or not, Axion quietly ran the towel through my hair.
Every time his rough fingertips brushed my skin, my body flinched.
“I’ll do it now, give it to me.”
If I left it to him any longer, I might be the only one getting all worked up while he remained completely unbothered.
“Hm? I said, give it to me?”
Despite my words, Axion didn’t hand over the towel. Frustrated, I turned my head, and our eyes met directly.
“…Axion?”
He didn’t move an inch, lost in thought.
Then, his fingers slowly slid behind my ear, pulling the back of my head toward him.
Axion’s lips gently touched my forehead. Compared to the heat of his lips, the fireplace was nothing. I shuddered as though I’d been burned.
This kind of contact should’ve been laughable.
But strangely, my heart was in turmoil, like it was my first time being touched by a man.
Axion’s lips moved, leaving warmth behind. He kissed my eyelids and then grazed my cheek.
“Axion, I…”
As if he thought I was rejecting him, he pulled me even closer—wait, pulled me closer?
“Axion, Axion! Wait a second!”
Axion was not the type of man to do anything I didn’t want. On the other hand, if it was something I said I liked, he’d go through hell and back—even if it cost him his life.
But now, even with my mild protest, he was pulling me toward him.
‘Is this really the Axion I know?’
When I looked up at him, I could see his neatly arched eyebrows. He playfully grazed my cheek with his lips, then bit it, as if by accident.
“Axion!”
I finally snapped back to my senses and pushed against his shoulders. He stepped back only slightly, not fully withdrawing.
“What’s wrong?”
His behavior was strange. The fact that he’d come to see me at this hour was already odd enough.
Then I suddenly noticed a faint smell of alcohol on him.
“Wait—did you drink?”
He showed no signs of it on the surface, which is probably why I didn’t notice earlier. He slowly nodded. Only then did I relax a bit and stroked his cheek.
So this was drunken behavior?
Thinking of it that way made it kind of cute. Of all the things to do when drunk, he came looking for me just to rub his lips on my skin?
“What happened? Why’d you drink?”
“…Zene.”
He flopped down on the couch like the drunkenness had just hit him. He leaned on me—it was a bit much to support him, but I still gently rubbed his back.
He pulled me closer by the waist and let out a deep breath. The sigh that escaped his lips was so exaggerated, I nearly laughed.
“That’s surprising. You never act drunk.”
“I am not drunk.”
That denial sounded exactly like a drunk person. I chuckled and teased him.
“Sure, sure, not drunk at all.”
Then, as if in protest, he suddenly bit my earlobe.
“Ow!”
Caught off guard, I smacked his back.
“You can’t just bite people!”
Was his drunken habit biting others? My earlobe started to throb as the pain spread. He was usually so sweet and caring—was his drunken alter ego… a dog? He didn’t go around biting just anyone, right?
“I’m sorry, Zene. Let me heal it…”
With those words, he gently enclosed my earlobe in his mouth again. It was more stimulating than painful this time. I tried to push him away, but he was determined.
“No, I’ll heal it.”
“This isn’t healing—! Hey!”
Before I realized it, I was yelling at him. Strange sensations started to bleed through the pain.
‘Wait—if you keep sucking like that…!’
“Ahh…”
A shameful moan escaped from my mouth. I froze and bit my lip in response.
Finally, Axion stopped what he’d been calling ‘treatment.’
But my earlobe still lingered between his lips.
“Axion?”
I twisted my body slightly, and surprisingly, his head drooped away easily. A wet sound followed as my earlobe was released from his lips.
Axion had fallen asleep.
Having been seduced and sucked on without knowing why, I blinked in shock.
The next day, I was drinking tea in the courtyard.
‘He should be waking up around now…’
Speak of the devil. Just then, Axion appeared, looking a bit more refreshed but dressed the same as yesterday. He said something to Mileta, who then bowed and withdrew.
He must’ve asked her to give us privacy.
‘So he is embarrassed about last night.’
“Zeneia.”
I pretended not to notice him and continued sipping my tea, but at his call, I glanced toward him.
“No hangover?”
“…None.”
“That’s good.”
He sat across from me at my gesture. He looked just as flustered about last night as I was. His body was stiff. I glanced at him and casually asked,
“What happened?”
“…”
“If you won’t tell me, I’ll just assume things on my own.”
“I was upset.”
He finally spoke, almost like spitting the words out. Upset? About what? I thought he’d say he just had drinks with Deputy Commander Douglas. But instead he said he was upset?
Something had happened recently that might upset him.
We’d fought after Maxim Dolan spread those rumors. But I thought we cleared that up? I did tell him they weren’t true…
…Wait, did I?
A chill ran down my spine.
Did I ever explicitly say the rumors were false?
No. I had asked if he’d heard the rumors, then got mad when he brushed it off too casually, and completely forgot to deny them.
‘Of all the things to forget!’
Does he still believe those rumors?
So now I look like a crazy woman who got mad just because he accepted the truth?
‘Ugh, my head…’
My head throbbed from the realization.
Unaware of my internal panic, Axion continued.
“Something like last night won’t happen again. I… lost control.”
“Wait, wait a second.”
“I’ll accept any punishment you decide.”
Punishment? Why would I punish him?!
The situation was spiraling into a mess. And to top it off, Maxim Dolan had really shown up at my place last night.
It was a coincidence unrelated to the rumors, but from Axion’s point of view, it must’ve looked like confirmation of them.
I couldn’t even imagine how he must’ve felt.
“Listen to me. Last night had nothing to do with those rumors.”
“You don’t need to make excuses.”
His unnecessarily stoic attitude was driving me crazy.
“It’s not an excuse! I swear, nothing happened with that guy!”
“I kicked him out last night.”
I’m going insane.
He seriously thought I brought Maxim into my bed.
Sure, in the future I did. But only because a kiss during the day didn’t get much reaction from him, so I wanted to push things further.
But that hadn’t happened yet. I wasn’t entirely innocent, but at least I could say I’d done nothing so far.
“I’m serious. I didn’t do anything.”
“Then who left that mark on your earlobe?”
His sharp words left me speechless. I had been self-conscious and hiding it with my hair…
Who left that mark?
“You did!”
“…?”
He furrowed his brows like he had no idea what I was talking about.
Okay, I felt bad for not clearing up the rumors sooner, but this was too much.
Was he seriously pretending not to remember making my earlobe red? Is he kidding me? I was still flustered just remembering his lips on me, and he had forgotten?
“…I did that to you?”
Axion still looked completely confused.
“You bit me and sucked on me and everything!”
Maybe slightly exaggerated—but completely true. As I confidently spoke, he went silent. Then I saw his neck flush red.
His Adam’s apple bobbed hard.
He remembered.
