Dogs Among Withered Roses - Chapter 14

Erkin, who had been watching her quietly, also shifted the body he had been crammed beneath the desk a little closer toward Berenice.

— …You know who he is, so no one will object, but aren’t you worried about the aftermath? Even if this whole matter is wrapped up perfectly, it won’t really be over.

— I know. But that part isn’t something you need to worry about.

— That hurts. It’s Valentiera business. How could I not worry?

— It just means there’s no need for you to concern yourself with it right now.

At the familiar voices flowing through the headset, Erkin slowly turned his head. He wondered where the wiretap was placed, but it wasn’t exactly a wiretap. It was recording a conversation taking place somewhere deeper inside the study.

— Ah, will the Rose of Valentiera be involved in this matter as well?

— Why are you curious about that?

— Why else? If I’m going to plan things for the day of the meeting, I need to know.

— I’m still considering it. And she doesn’t like that nickname.

— How fussy. If a rose is a rose, what else should I call it? Then what, should I call her the Goddess of Victory?

— It would probably be better to just call her by her name.

The Rose of Valentiera, the Goddess of Victory…. Erkin knew exactly who those nicknames referred to, yet he didn’t turn his head back.

“Chiara is really rushing toward her death….”

Apparently the rose truly disliked that nickname. The thoroughly irritated rose bared her teeth and growled under her breath. The Goddess of Victory, who had been squirming because the lowered posture was uncomfortable, shifted her aching neck from side to side. In that moment, her slender tilted jaw brushed against his cheek, the headset between them.

Startled by the warmth that shouldn’t have been there, Berenice flinched. Her body stiffened like a cornered mouse. Unsure, suspicious, she glanced sideways at him, and her eyes immediately widened.

The person who should still be crumpled under the desk had somehow crawled out. She had no idea when or why, and her mouth simply opened and closed in a daze. They had been listening in together the whole time, yet she hadn’t noticed him pressed so close beside her.

An unnecessarily impressive level of concentration.

At that moment, his slightly frowning face didn’t move away and instead sharply jerked his chin as if gesturing, asking what she was doing just sitting there. Because Berenice reacted with delayed surprise only now, Erkin was left stunned. Warm, soft lips brushed his cheek before quickly pulling away.

‘Ack!’

“…?”

‘Ack! What was that! My lips! Ack!’

What kind of reaction is that?

Berenice looked as if she might jump straight off the balcony at any moment, silently recoiling in horror. Did she have no memory of biting his earlobe just moments ago? Her hand rubbed furiously at her lips as if something filthy had splattered on them, the urgency as unnecessary as her remarkable concentration.

She’s really treating someone like literal filth.

He was clearly the one who suffered the one-sided assault, yet her silent but incredibly dramatic rejection made him feel as if the initiative he never even possessed had been taken away. Even so, she was the one in the superior position, and she was the young lady. Erkin couldn’t glare at her as he pleased and simply swallowed a breath.

Berenice, still not removing the headset from her ear, poked Erkin’s shoulder with her finger.

‘What are you doing? Who do you think you are, eavesdropping on this?’

‘Is that really something you should be saying right now, Miss?’

‘I came here specifically to listen to this in the first place. If I don’t do it here, who will?’

‘When you put it that way… I can’t even argue, which somehow makes me even more annoyed.’

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the two of them mouthed words exaggeratedly at each other, waving their hands and feet as they bickered in silence. Then Chiara’s voice pushed through the noisy silence from the headset.

— Then I’ll contact you again later.

— Do that.

— It’s stifling in here. Shall we head out?

The conversation ended before they knew it. Swallowing a sigh, Berenice returned the headset exactly where it had been without leaving a trace. Meanwhile, Erkin crawled back under the desk and half lay down.

Just as he pulled Berenice toward him, almost lifting her as she hurriedly crawled over, and wrapped her tightly against his body the same way as before, the bookshelf slid open again with a heavy grinding sound.

At the same time, Berenice and Erkin stopped breathing as if they had fallen into water. With their mouths tightly shut, they focused only on the sounds around them. The slow footsteps paused briefly before Chiara spoke.

“Oh right, any news about Russo? I tried helping with the search too, but I couldn’t find a trace. People are even saying we’ll end up tearing through other districts just trying to find that one Russo rat.”

“That isn’t something you need to concern yourself with either.”

“…You really know how to hurt someone with your words. Since we’re already on the topic, how about you start looking for a marriage prospect for Berenice before she causes more trouble?”

“Chiara. That’s enough.”

Ricardo’s footsteps, pressing firmly against the floor, faded away. The tension that had been confined beneath the desk now spread throughout the entire study. It felt as if the tightening pressure around their throats might make their hearts burst.

“I know you and Berenice don’t exactly get along, but you should still be careful with what you say in front of me. She’s my sister.”

“….”

“And do you really think I wouldn’t handle that myself? Stop worrying about that matter and refrain from unnecessary remarks. Especially where Berenice can hear them.”

“….”

“Anytime. Anywhere.”

At Chiara’s suggestion that Berenice was nothing but a headache and should be married off soon, and at Ricardo’s remark that he would handle it himself without asking the other party’s opinion, Erkin felt the woman in his arms grind her teeth. Worried Berenice might suddenly jump up and burst out, Erkin tightened his grip around the body curled tightly on top of him.

Even though he leaned his upper body halfway back, his head still had to bend, and it pressed into Berenice’s shoulder. Berenice’s eyes widened as she clamped her mouth shut just like earlier.

She held her breath as much as possible, trying to breathe out like a corpse, but Erkin’s thick hair tickled the back of her neck. Berenice couldn’t tell whether the tension in her body came from trying to endure the tickling concentrated on her neck and shoulder, or from the discomfort of their bodies pressed so tightly together that not even a sheet of paper could slip between them.

Or perhaps….

Perhaps it was because of the unmistakable presence beneath the low heels of her shoes. A long, thick piece of flesh stretched across his firm thigh, impossible not to recognize.

Berenice stubbornly fixed her gaze on the wall of the desk so she would not look that way even by accident, and lifted the tip of her foot slightly.

There was no grand intention behind it.

She simply wanted to move even a little farther from the flesh touching the heel of her shoe. She could not endure the unspeakable feeling, as if she were stepping on Erkin’s cock, even though she had not actually stepped on it at all.

But because that was the only thought on her mind, she didn’t realize that lifting the tip of her foot would throw off her balance, or that the remaining tension in her hips would tighten as she tried to steady herself. The moment her backside pressed firmly against the man’s pelvic bone, the startled Berenice reflexively pushed harder with the tip of her foot.

‘….’

‘….’

Ah, damn it.

Realizing instantly that things had gone terribly wrong, Berenice squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, biting down hard on her lips. Erkin slowly lifted his head and opened his mouth.

‘What… are you doing? What exactly are you stepping on right now?’

‘It was an accident. An accident. A real accident.’

Instead of shaking her head, Berenice rapidly shook her eyes in denial. As if to say, what would I even gain from stepping on your dick, she wanted to pour out her desperate feelings out loud, but….

She must have been badly startled, because a hiccup threatened to escape first.

The moment she realized she’d tensed her body so much that her stomach cramped, Berenice’s heart jolted and heaved. From a previous experience, Erkin immediately recognized it as the precursor to a hiccup, and his eyes filled with horror.

Ah, this woman….

This is bad. Seriously bad. Ricardo and Chiara were still in the study, trading barbed remarks about Berenice’s marriage and other trivial matters. If she hiccupped now, it would be a disaster.

If they get caught here, they’re really dead.

Releasing one hand, Erkin grabbed the tip of Berenice’s nose and, with the hand cupping the back of her head, pulled her toward his face. If he didn’t want the space under the desk to become his grave, this was the only way.

The moment their faces met, a thick tongue parted Berenice’s lips and wrapped around her frozen tongue, tugging at it. His lips, focused only on pulling her tongue to stop the hiccup, crushed against hers without mercy.

This is insane. Completely insane.

Unable to draw a proper breath, Berenice gripped his shoulder tightly. He squeezed her nose so hard her eyes nearly watered. Was he trying to stop her hiccup or suffocate her?

Are we trying to get caught right now or what?

Trying instinctively to escape the way he coiled around her like a snake, she curled the tongue he held onto without thinking. Slowly loosening the hand gripping her nose, Erkin pulled his lips slightly away and whispered like an order.

‘Stick out your tongue.’

In no state to answer, Berenice kept her mouth slightly open, her chest rising and falling as she silently let out small breaths and drew them back in. Sliding the hand covering the back of her head down, Erkin rubbed the slender nape of her neck and her earlobe as if pressing them, then quietly lowered his gaze.

Even in the darkness, he glanced at her glistening lips and the chest that refused to calm, then tilted his head slightly again. There wasn’t the slightest hesitation as their softly bruised lips sealed each other once more.

Berenice’s body, rigid enough that her spine seemed ready to jut out, gradually loosened. He still didn’t release her tongue, but it no longer felt like he was pulling it painfully like before.