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Episode 134: Illicit Affairs (II)
When he said that he would sleep here, his hot lips touched mine before I could answer.
A breath flowed in an instant, and something sweeter and hotter than that breath enveloped me.
Feeling each other’s heat through the narrow gap between the lips, the kiss continued until our hearts throbbed over and over again.
My heart was pounding. Like playing a very dangerous game.
But it was so sweet that it was almost impossible to stop.
“Ah
”
The lips fell softly like marshmallows.
The end of a momentary thrilling kiss. Sislin’s bright eyes turned to me.
Before I knew it, his big hand was gently stroking my red cheeks.
Like he would swallow it again if he could.
Was it just me or were kisses not enough? I wondered, but now that I saw it, it seemed that Sislin’s thirst was deeper.
He was expressionless, but his face was wet with lust to the extent that I thought he had only thought of ‘this thing’ all day.
—It was a little bit scary.
As scary as it was, an unfamiliar thrill was pounding in one side of my chest.
‘Am I crazy?’
I struggled to straighten my expression and continued the conversation before the kiss.
“
There’ll be rumors, Your Highness. Like, ‘I can’t believe you’re sleeping over while you’re not married’.”
Saying respectful words when drawing a line was now a habit.
His lips drew a mischievous arc.
“I would like to hear from you.”
“Yes?”
“The beautiful and promising duchess and the monster prince of the Crevasse
”
“

.”
“Just the two of us.”
A large hand wrapped around my waist without hesitation. In an instant, my spine was tense and tight.
The warm body temperature felt through the thin fabric was vividly penetrating down to my lower abdomen.
The well-shaped lips moved.
“No matter day or night.”
“
Indiscriminately.”
Without realizing it, I was following his words blankly.
At that time, Sislin’s head bowed slowly. Her black, fine hair flowed down like silk that absorbed the night sky.
Seuk—
The sensual lips bit the ribbon of my clothes. White teeth were suddenly revealed.
With a slow pull, the fragile knot of the ribbon was untied so easily, undoing the closure of the garment.
I could feel the cold air and his hot breath on the exposed skin at the same time, so I got goosebumps.
“Without breathing
”
“

.”
“Getting drunk on each other every day.”
He pretended to want to share his thoughts, but in reality, it was like a declaration of war. It was seduction.
My heart was racing so much that I could feel it pounding. My pulse leaped at the mere brush of the exposed skin.
I knew.
If I showed even the slightest gap in front of this man, I would be completely eaten up today.
I said, pretending to be calm.
“It’s hard to be gossiped about, Sisl.”
“Then shall we keep it a secret?”
“

!”
Seeing his slightly curved red eyes, I was a little surprised.
‘What, he can make a face like that?’
It’s

Like an innocent boy who wanted to play.
“It’s a secret, only the two of us know.”
His long fingers crept between mine, slowly interlacing.
“—What do you think.”
Let’s be together day and night without a break

Would that be a secret?
‘Why did this happen?’
At this point, I had no choice but to think about this.
I definitely turned down his proposal some time ago.
I drew the line properly, and put the ‘problem with Sislin’ far behind other things I thought were urgent.
But suddenly, he came after me again, grabbed my heart, and shook it.
It’s always been like this.
‘The problem is
 I have changed.’
In the past, he would have felt like a hound trying to bite the nape of my neck.
Now

I was excited as much as I was nervous. My heart was pounding enough to offset the fear.
“I love you.”
Perhaps it was because of the kiss and hot confession of the last meeting.
That confession was sweet and soft enough to make my mind confused

“I love you, Annette.”
—He kept making me excited.
Sislin buried his lips deep into the back of my hand and gazed straight at me.
I could feel the heat in his red eyes.
I barely managed to avoid the gaze, muttering,
“
I tend to not be able to sleep deeply when there are people next to me, so I can’t, Sislin.”
“I’ll put you to sleep.”
“How?”
“You’ll soon be able to sleep well because you’ll be feeling drowsy and tired.”
“

!!!”
That sounds so lewd!
I quickly got up from his lap and fell far away.
“I need you to leave, Your Highness.”
Then I pointed firmly at the window. He let out a low laugh.
“It’s too much. Telling me to go out the window.”
‘Didn’t you come in through there?’
‘And if you go out the window, I don’t think you’ll get hurt at all.’
“Don’t cry for another man.”
“

.”
“If you cry again
”
‘Your heart will hurt? Is it like this?’
As I was looking at him with slightly anticipating eyes, Sislin approached and wrapped his fingers around my chin.
Darkened red eyes looked at me.
“I will make you cry for me.”
Your Highness, you’re a real nutcase, aren’t you?
‘It doesn’t change.’
As I was thinking, a sweet voice landed in my ear.
“I’ll make you cry because you like it.”
My cheeks turned a little red at the unexpected words.
The subtlety of saying that he would make me cry from enjoyment was a little different from all the nuances so far.
It sounded like he was going to make me happy. Was it the obsessive maniac version of those words?
“Good night, Annette.”
He kissed my forehead lightly, and in an instant climbed onto the railing of the window.
Under the pouring moonlight, his black hair shone like a ray of light pooling in a crystal glass.
A robe resembling his red eyes fluttered in the wind.
“

!”
He disappeared under the window in an instant.
I quickly jumped up from my position, ran to the window, and looked down. But there was no trace of Sislin.
He just disappeared like a lie.
“Did you really go out the window?”
Leaving the front door alone.
Indeed, a rumor of the crown prince visiting the mansion of the unmarried duchess at night was not good.
‘
You’re considerate of me.’
The wind was cool.
My heart, which was throbbing hot, was not easily cooled by the wind.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“Heinrich? That’s a garbage name. He will grow up to be vulgar like his mother.”
Belsac Valentino had abandoned a pregnant woman. The reason was simple.
He was a terrible purist, and he thought that meeting with a courtesan was simply for the pursuit of pleasure.
Despite being with that courtesan for 10 years.
It didn’t matter to him that a meeting like that could actually be seen as love, not just pleasure.
He was such an aristocrat that he couldn’t even notice the affection that had sprouted in his heart.
“
But this child is yours, Grand Duke.”
“Don’t appear in front of me again. Abandon the hope that the thing you gave birth to could be the son of this Valentino.”
After some time, when the courtesan, whom he had abandoned, gave up on her life and child, Belsac was shocked but did not regret his choice.
No, he should not have regrets.
He drank all night at her funeral, after which he often had visions of her still alive, but that was all.
He occasionally heard her in his hallucinations, but he ignored it.
He didn’t want the son either.
Even if his blood had been mixed, the filthy mongrel would not have inherited even the slightest bit of his talent.
“This body will one day become the master of this tower. I can’t have a weakness by collecting a mongrel son
 I came into this tower at a great cost and became one of the nine archmages!”
Belsac lived his entire life to become the perfect archmage with a pristine history.
His dream was to become the tower lord and have his son succeed him.
Thus, the ultimate goal of Belsac’s life was to engrave the greatness of the ‘Grand Duchy of Valentino’ in the history of the tower, and to have it shine from generation to generation.
—So this was a shock.
“I think the next tower lord will be Grand Duke Heinrich Hyacinth.”
As a matter of fact, Heinrich
 He was not only a son who inherited 100% of Valentino’s talent, but more than that.
On the other hand, Eric, a son born to a noble wife, lacked magical talent.
If you describe it as rolling the dice of Valentino’s talent, Eric came up with a ‘1’.
Meanwhile, Heinrich was the perfect ‘6’ itself.
Everything seemed easy to Heinrich.
A true genius, he created novel magic tools, and he became an archmage so simply, recognized by everyone.
He had the ability to overwhelm any of the nine great wizards, and now he had become a candidate for the Magic Tower, threatening his lifelong goal.
‘If only I had Heinrich!’

If he was ‘Heinrich Valentino’!
Belsac thought about it from time to time, but he couldn’t acknowledge Heinrich.
If so, he had to regret abandoning the courtesan from a long time ago, that he might have loved.
He had to regret his whole life.
So, instead of admitting it, he decided to become the master of the tower.
A man just like himself. By joining hands with Prince Gerard, who was thirsty for the highest position, but had no way at present.
It was time for a bet.
“

.”
“You’re here, Archduke Valentino.”
Belsac took off his robe and sat down.
“Thank you for the hospitality, Prince Gerard.”
“I heard that there’s a wizard who uses paralyzing poison that leaves no trace
”
Eerily red eyes under long grayish-white hair looked over at Belsac.
Then he pulled his lips into a smirk.
“That’s surprising. An archmage like you could create such a thing.”
“

.”
“I don’t mean to offend, but it’s usually done by dark-hearted and vile people.”
The corners of Belsac’s lips rose. With an obviously fake laugh.
“The prince will not even be able to guess what kind of life I have lived.”
Belsac rummaged through his robe, pulled out a vial, and held it in his hand.
“

!”
Gerard’s eyes shone with interest, but Belsac chuckled, speaking without letting go of the bottle.
“You have to keep your promise.”
“

.”
“If you regain power as in the past, you will participate in the Magic Tower’s voting and establish me as the next tower lord.”