Chapter 176
Read ahead of public and coin chapters ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊ GoM kofi ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
Vanessa slowly exhaled, gripping her own forearm and pressing down hard until the surge of impulse subsided. She couldn’t let him notice, not even a hint of anything related to her pregnancy.
Her heated eyelids lowered gradually. She forced her tangled breathing into something calm.
“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”
“Vanessa.”
There was a strange warmth in the way he said her name.
His large hand came down over her wrist, pressing it against the bed, almost as if he were trying to anchor the unease that had suddenly flared between them with something tangible.
It didn’t hurt. But the pressure was unmistakable. And moments like this… always led somewhere.
“……”
As he leaned over her, a shadow fell across her face. Their noses brushed lightly, then their lips met—rubbing, softening, then parting as they bit gently into one another.
His tongue slipped in through the opening, tangling with hers in a hungry, urgent rhythm. He was rougher than usual today.
Each time she flinched and tried to pull away, he followed, closing in, binding her without leaving an inch of space, like he wouldn’t be satisfied until he drew at least one broken sound from her throat.
The sensation sent a chill through her. And the moment she instinctively licked his tongue in a pleading motion. His back arched sharply, taut like a drawn bow.
Just from a kiss, as if reminding himself he was still holding back.
“Mm….”
The large hand at her waist slid upward, just about to grasp her chest—
Knock. Knock.
A polite signal at the bedroom door. Dinner was ready in the dining room.
Vanessa’s eyes flew open as she gasped for breath. The Duke seemed to come back to himself as well. He slowly licked his lips, still damp with her saliva.
“I keep feeling a slight fever from you.”
“…I think it’s just a cold.”
“No one gets a summer cold, Vanessa. You don’t have any symptoms besides the heat.”
“Then… maybe I’m just tired. There’s been a lot going on lately.”
“After dinner, call a doctor. Starting tomorrow, I’ll have the family physician stationed downstairs.”
“No! I’m fine!”
Vanessa raised her voice in a hurry and pushed herself upright. Her sharp reaction made his gaze narrow slightly. As he stood to ring for the doctor, she grabbed his sleeve.
His cool, lowered gaze followed her movement, as if carefully weighing that desperate response.
“I’ve always been like this. And doctors always just tell me to take medicine, so….”
“……”
Did that sound suspicious? It probably had.
Vanessa forced herself to think. She needed to redirect his attention—anything to pull his focus away from her condition.
Something—anything—
“By the way… how did things go today? The matter you went out to handle—did it work out?”
For a split second, his expression hardened. As if she had touched on something she shouldn’t have. The chill in his face made her heart drop, but in the end, it had worked.
At least his attention had shifted away from her and the matter of a doctor.
“…Yes. I made a decision.”
“That’s good. You’ve been busy with it for a while.”
“I was driven like a beast. But I got a high price for it.”
“You made the right choice, then?”
He didn’t answer right away. He simply looked at her.
The room was dark as no gas lamps were lit, so she could barely make out his features.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“…Nothing.”
His voice was dry, almost devoid of warmth. And yet, as he brushed his lips lightly against her fingers, he looked strangely restless.
“I was just thinking… about how I should persuade you for the rest of the time we have.”
What he wanted was simple. The exclusive right to her body, for a limited time. What society would call lovers, or a mistress.
Maybe… just maybe, she might have agreed to it, even for a while.
Not because she loved herself less, but because she loved him that much more. If only she could hide the child.
If her body would never swell, never reveal the truth, if the Duke never discovered that his child had been conceived within her.If, someday, he heard that she had borne and raised a child and never once suspected it was his—
“……”
A firm hand seized her chin and forced her face upward. In the darkness, his blue eyes gleamed strangely, almost like a beast’s.
“Say you’ll extend the contract, Vanessa.”
“……”
“Say you’ll stay by my side. No matter what happens.”
