Chapter 124
It was a pale violet dress whose color seemed to spread softly. It was worlds apart from the shabby dresses I had seen at the secondhand clothing shop.
The size seemed roughly right too. It was more elegant and ornate than I had expected, so it even felt a little burdensome.
Moreover, a small case contained neatly arranged accessories that seemed suited to the dress.
They were far too expensive to repay with a single purification. Theor had told me to keep them, but I thought I should wear them carefully and return them after all…
“Um, my cheek feels very hot.”
Unable to endure the piercing gaze from beside me, I eventually put the dress back down.
The instant our eyes met, Gerard let himself loose. He immediately pressed his body over mine and pulled down my clothes.
He buried his lips against my exposed neck and sucked the thin skin deeply into his mouth. The force was so intense that I could hear the wet friction of his lips.
“Ugh, it hurts!”
Even as I jerked and twisted my body, the body pinning me down didn’t budge. Instead, he held both my hands down and obsessively left marks on me.
His soft hair rubbed relentlessly against my cheeks and the tip of my chin.
After sucking and biting for a long time while moving from place to place, Gerard extended his tongue and licked a long path up the line of my neck. My lower back trembled at the soft sensation.
When our eyes finally met, his gaze had sunk so low that my heart dropped. Gerard stared at me for a long time, then released the hands he had been gripping so tightly.
He stretched out a long arm, took something from the table, and held it up before me.
The hand mirror was filled with the sight of me panting with watery eyes. My neck, which had gone cold, was covered in red and purple marks he had left behind.
The bruising was so extensive that a stranger might have suspected someone had beaten me.
Thud. Gerard dropped the mirror to the floor and pulled up one corner of his mouth.
“You won’t be able to wear this dress.”
His face looked like that of a vicious villain.
* * *
The banquet hosted by Melvers would continue for three days.
The first two days were festivities only for a small number of invited nobles and high-ranking priests, and ordinary Awakened and Purifiers could attend only on the final day.
And it was then that I learned for the first time that one had to wear a different dress each day.
How many dresses did nobles buy for the several banquets held every year?
Only now did I begin to understand why Theor’s younger sister was troubled by all the dresses she didn’t know what to do with.
“…This feels awkward.”
I had been unable to move away from the mirror, which barely reflected my upper body, for quite some time.
I touched the area around my neck with my gloved hand. White lace encircled my neck.
Because of the marks Gerard had left, I could no longer wear the dress belonging to Theor’s younger sister, which exposed the line of my neck.
“Are you insane?! What is this!”
“If you think it’s unfair, leave some on me too.”
I was rendered speechless when he said that while pulling down the collar of his shirt.
The next day, Gerard brought me a new dress, and that was what I was wearing now.
The pale sky-blue and white dress was beautiful enough without excessive decorations. The sparkling patterns embroidered along the hem of the skirt and its fit, which perfectly followed my body, were more than enough.
In terms of personal taste, I liked this dress more. But the problem was that Gerard had given it to me.
I had deliberately gone all the way to a secondhand clothing shop because I didn’t want his help. Had I known this would happen, I would have simply taken one of the dresses from storage and worn it.
“Why does everything keep getting tangled up like this?”
I pulled the neck ornament down slightly. The dark blue bruises were immediately revealed.
No matter what happened, I had to protect this neck ornament. Not that there would be anyone to remove it.
* * *
Fortunately, I was able to ride in Chelsea’s carriage.
“My goodness, Louize! I almost didn’t recognize you!”
The moment I climbed into the carriage, Chelsea grabbed my hand and seated me beside her.
Her widened eyes carefully swept over me from head to toe.
