Deceived, Yet Drawn to You - Chapter 29

After staring up at Edmund for a moment, Blair nodded and stepped inside. Even then, she seemed acutely aware that she was entering the living space of a man who lived alone, and her steps were so cautious it almost made him laugh. He found himself wanting to see how long she could keep up that refined composure.

Edmund led her straight to the reception room. He took a seat across from Blair at the coffee table, then once again slid forward the contract she’d seen at Regent Bank.

“You should take another look before signing.”

“Yes.”

From the nearly ten-page contract, the key clauses worth paying attention to were simple.

「For one year after marriage, the superficial duties of husband and wife shall be carried out under mutual respect.

Any financial losses resulting from the dissolution of the engagement with Isaac Dorman shall be borne in full by Edmund.

Upon termination of the agreement, Edmund shall provide Blair with compensation, and shall not interfere in any way with her residence, status, or use of assets.

All clauses are premised on the absence of any acts of betrayal toward the other party.」

As Blair read through the text carefully, her eyes narrowed slightly. “Shouldn’t the compensation you’ll be paying me be stated as a specific amount?”

“Have you decided where you’ll be or what you’ll be doing a year from now, Lady Twyford?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Then there’s no choice but to leave that part somewhat open-ended. If that makes you uneasy, I’ll put it in writing like this.”

Turning the document toward himself, Edmund added a sentence with practiced movements of his fountain pen. Blair examined the revised clause.

It now stated that upon termination of the agreement, Edmund would provide Blair with funds sufficient to secure a safe residence and means of living based in Borsa, with a minimum amount of two hundred thousand francs.

Blair’s eyes widened at the substantial sum. Two hundred thousand francs was enough to shake the finances of the Twyford family in one blow, an amount even her father had never handled in his lifetime.

“Is that satisfactory?”

“Yes… though I’m not sure whether Lord Libert will be satisfied.”

“If there were no benefit to me, I wouldn’t have begun this in the first place.”

Blair looked at him with eyes that seemed to ask how he could remain so composed, then lowered her gaze. Faced with a contract that would determine the course of her entire life, her thoughts were clearly tangled. Edmund didn’t allow the silence to drag on.

“Since you’ve come this far, I’ll ask one final question.”

Blair lifted her eyes from the document. Edmund continued while looking directly into her round eyes, “If you leave now, I’ll pretend none of this ever happened. But if you sign the contract and take one more step forward, then this becomes a secret shared only between the two of us.”

“….”

“Are you prepared?”

Edmund didn’t miss the slight quickening of Blair’s breath. She quietly steadied herself, even suppressing the sound of her breathing as if that would keep him from noticing. Then she answered in a clear voice.

“Of course. My resolve won’t waver.”

As if carried by the momentum, she picked up the pen and wrote her name in the signature line. Then she looked up at him, a competitive spark flashing across her face.

“Is that all for the contract?”

“Almost. The important part begins now.”

Though the contract was finalized, there was still a probing light in the gaze sweeping over Blair.

“I’m curious.”

Edmund set the signed contract aside on the table and rose from his chair. Walking over to the cabinet, he took out a bottle of brandy and poured it into a glass, quietly watching Blair’s reflection in the glass door.

“I want to see just how prepared you really are, Lady Twyford.”

Turning back around, Edmund lifted the glass and took a light sip. More than the brandy sliding down his throat, it was the sparkle in the woman’s eyes that stirred his heat a little further.

“How prepared you are… I want to see for myself.”

That single sentence instantly transformed the air in the room.

“Can you show me?”

Leaning diagonally against the cabinet, Edmund slowly observed Blair from the crown of her neatly bowed head down to her feet. The gaze that slid downward was deliberately unhurried. Sitting with her knees pressed together, she shifted slightly, as if uncomfortable.

There was no way Blair didn’t understand what he was expecting of her. A woman who had stood on the brink of marriage to Isaac and now had to play the role of Edmund’s wife knew exactly what such words implied.

The contract was already signed, the agreement concluded. Blair Twyford had no obligation to prove herself further. She could have refused his request and turned around to leave right then, and that would have been entirely within her rights. A foolish woman wouldn’t know that, but Blair certainly did.

‘How will she respond?’

Edmund brushed his fingertip along the rim of the glass his lips had touched, tangling his gaze with hers. Blair’s chest rose and fell repeatedly as she struggled to answer at once. Her pale cheeks slowly flushed a soft peach as she bit down on her lip for a long moment. The excessively proper young lady still seemed intent on hiding herself beneath the wide brim of her velvet hat.

Edmund didn’t break that hesitation. He wanted to watch the moment of her wavering stretch on. The longer the silence lasted, the heavier the weight of the decision she would make on her own.

“Yes. I’ll show you.”

The trembling voice that answered carried a resolute light in Blair’s hazel eyes.

“If that’s what you desire.”

As she added those words, Blair lifted her hands and removed the velvet hat. One by one, she slipped off the silk gloves as well, as smooth as her unusually pale skin. When her concealed fingers were revealed, the engagement ring on her ring finger gave off a small glint. Blair even removed the jewel that bound her and set it down on the table.

Every movement was deliberately slow, as if each gesture itself were an answer to his question.

Edmund didn’t interrupt that pace. In fact, he found it satisfying, and if possible, he wished it would be delayed even longer. That was certainly how he felt, at least until Blair pushed back her chair and began walking straight toward him.

Watching her with all traces of amusement erased from his eyes, Edmund finally realized it. In the woman’s steps as she closed the distance between them, there wasn’t a single shred of hesitation.

When Blair approached until even their breaths brushed, she blinked slowly. Gazing up at Edmund, who stood rigid with the glass still in hand, she reached out with both hands and cupped his face.

That was the moment the firm balance collapsed.

Edmund seized Blair by her straight slender neck, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. He opened her lips and plunged inside in one swift motion. Tilting her chin, he tangled their damp breaths and tasted her saliva. Like someone who’d gone days without food devouring a richly ripened fruit, he took her hungrily.

The woman who had approached so boldly lost herself in the entwined breaths in an instant. Confusion was thick in the sounds she let slip. Held in his arms, unsure what to do, her fingers brushed his cheek before cautiously sliding up to cling to his neck. Even in the middle of this, her guardedness was almost amusing, and Edmund threaded his fingers deep into her hair. He deepened the kiss further, sucking as if to swallow her breath whole.

“Mm….”

Only belatedly did a startled reaction come back from her. He paid no heed to that subtle resistance. After stroking her smooth hair, his hand slid further down along the curve of her back. As if driving her into it, he pushed his tongue in deeper and pulled her quivering body close.

Without either of them leading, their breathing grew ragged. The intervals between each breath grew shorter as well. Afraid the woman arching back might escape, he pressed his lower body against hers and kissed her relentlessly. The warmth that flowed from her was so soft and comforting that he didn’t want to let go of even a handful of it.

“Ah….”

A muffled moan slipped out, whether resistance or temptation, he couldn’t tell. The kiss was too sweet for the distinction to matter. His mind filled with nothing but the sensation that he couldn’t afford to lose this warmth and these reactions.