Chapter 144
“What are you doing?”
“Dinner.”
“I can feed myself.”
“You’ll tear off a few bites of dry bread and stop eating.”
By now, the sight of him preparing food in the cramped kitchen for so long seemed entirely natural.
I tugged at Gerard’s clothes.
“There are still more things I want to hear.”
“If you sit quietly and eat everything I give you.”
“……”
“I’ll tell you everything, even the size of my c**k.”
It was absurd that he was dangling something I already knew perfectly well as though it were a reward.
But lingering in the kitchen wouldn’t get me anything right now.
In the end, I could only put down my fork after eating as much as Gerard wanted of everything he wanted me to eat.
I truly hadn’t had an appetite at first, but strangely, the more I ate, the hungrier I became. I was embarrassed for some reason, so I didn’t show it.
“Drink all of it.”
Only after I emptied both the bowls and the half-filled glass of water did I earn the right to ask questions.
“What happened with Arvina?”
I asked immediately after setting down the glass.
“Why don’t you worry about me for once? You could ask how I felt when you fainted after one round of s*x, or how difficult it was to restrain myself while removing all the seed I’d pumped into you.”
“You said you would answer anything.”
I wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
That day, Arvina had seen Gerard follow me out. She had even seemed to realize that Gerard and I were together inside the room.
I had known Arvina for a long time, so I could predict her thoughts and behavior to a certain extent, but this time, I had no idea what she might do.
Would she spread rumors?
But she wore Gerard’s favor like an accessory. To spread the rumors, she would have to reveal that Gerard’s attention had shifted toward me. Would she truly do such a thing?
Arvina would never do anything that damaged her own dignity.
“She said a marriage proposal had come in.”
“…A marriage proposal?”
“She’ll be graduating soon, so it’s about time proposals started arriving. The Princess loves her family dearly, so she won’t do anything that goes against her parents’ wishes. She’ll probably handle the marriage herself, so you don’t have to feel any strange guilt.”
“I never did anything with Arvina in the first place.”
Gerard spoke as though he found the accusation unfair.
He was looking for the cause of my anxiety in the wrong place.
However, I felt no guilt whatsoever toward Arvina.
My thoughts had simply veered in another direction.
If Arvina married someone else, who was Gerard supposed to form an imprint with?
My thoughts were a mess.
Wait. Let me organize them.
Explaining to Arvina that there was nothing between Gerard and me wouldn’t be particularly difficult.
She would happily accept it while saying, ‘I knew it.’
But what if Gerard and Arvina didn’t want each other?
That was certainly a problem.
As far as I knew, there were four other first-rank Purifiers in the capital besides Arvina. One had already formed an imprint, and the remaining three were either far too old or far too young compared to Gerard.
Even if there were someone close to his age, falling in love was another matter entirely.
This couldn’t continue.
“Um… Lord Castion.”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t it bother you? This isn’t just anyone’s marriage proposal. It’s Arvina’s.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“You loved her very much. For a long time too. Arvina seemed to have feelings for you as well. I can guarantee it as her friend. She probably mentioned the marriage proposal because she wanted you to stop her. Right now, it seems like you’re being swayed toward me because of the purification…”
I glanced at him. He merely listened to me without showing any emotion. When I stopped speaking, Gerard gestured with his eyes for me to continue.
“…I’m only telling you this because I’m afraid you’ll regret it later.”
“Finished?”
I nodded.
“When you’re so in love with me you can barely stand it, why do you only say such cruel things?”
“……”
“Is Arvina threatening you?”
“…I truly mean it.”
“That won’t work anymore. Now that I know how you feel, I’m going to seduce you until I claim the place beside you.”
I started to lower my head, but then I looked directly into his eyes and spoke clearly.
With different eyes and a different voice from before.
“Please don’t.”
“……”
“I don’t want this.”
Perhaps Gerard sensed something from how differently I was behaving, because his eyes narrowed slightly.
