91
Episode 91: The Realization of a Secret Dream
Suddenly, Noah broke the kiss, lifted his head, and gazed down at Olivia with darkened eyes. He gently touched her cheek and tilted his head slightly.
"Did you wait long outside?"
Olivia's eyes widened, and then she nodded as if realizing something.
"On the balcony."
Noah narrowed his eyes and turned his head to look at the balcony. It was as if he could see the lingering image of Olivia standing there. Noah turned his head back and quietly looked down at Olivia, whom he held in his arms.
"How did you know when I would come to wait?"
"I just thought you might come. Since we weren't going straight to sleep."
As Olivia mumbled, slightly lowering her gaze, Noah slowly stroked her lips with his thumb. The warm breath that escaped through her slightly parted teeth tickled his fingertips, and the smile completely disappeared from Noah's face.
Noah's gaze slid from her lips to her white neck. Beneath the soft shadows of her collarbones, her chest rose and fell rapidly with each breath.
As Noah's long fingers slowly slid from her neck to her straight collarbones, and then to the softly swelling mounds, Olivia quickly grabbed his hand.
"Betty will be here soon!"
"She's just going to announce from outside the door that you're ready. And why are you still wearing the Corset at this hour when you said you felt like you were going to die wearing it?"
While Olivia grabbed one of his hands, Noah skillfully undid the buttons on her back with his other hand. When she asked him to fasten them, he refused, but he seemed to have no trouble undoing them.
"Who told you to be like this, huh?"
"What did I do?!"
Noah smiled, tilted his head, and swallowed Olivia's lips. In the meantime, her dress slipped down, and Noah ruthlessly unlaced the Corset that had been constricting Olivia until now.
As the Corset disappeared, a languid sense of liberation washed over her. Olivia leaned her head against Noah's chest, letting all the strength drain from her body.
But in the place where the Corset had been, clear red marks remained.
Noah frowned and quietly looked down at the marks on her back. It was suffocating just to look at them.
He took a step back to check the marks on Olivia's stomach and chest, but Olivia quickly covered her chest.
"It's embarrassing!"
"Did Countess Timberline tell you to wear this all day?!"
Olivia just blinked her eyes and said nothing, so Noah made a serious expression and pressed his fingers into the sunken marks.
"If it's tightened so much that it leaves marks like this, blood can't circulate. If blood can't circulate, it rots."
"Noah, Elixir."
"Elixir? Do you even know how deep the marks on your body are?!"
There was definitely anger in his voice, but for some reason, it was nice to hear.
It was as if if she said, 'I had such a hard time today!' he would say, 'Who made it hard for you?!' and get angry with her.
It was as if he would unconditionally take her side.
"Who tightened this so much...!!"
Olivia burrowed into Noah's arms and hugged his back.
Noah, who had been about to get angry, trailed off at Olivia's action of burrowing into his arms. He slowly blinked his eyes with a blank expression. His chest tightened at the touch of her hands hugging his back. At the same time, his whole body boiled like molten iron in a furnace.
"You're driving me crazy."
At the impatient voice, Olivia quickly raised her head. At the same time, her body soared upwards.
"Noah!"
"You started the fire, so you have to take responsibility for putting it out, right?"
Then, without giving her a chance to answer, he swallowed her lips.
The warm breath that crossed over her red lips mingled and mingled again. At such times, all the worries and concerns of the world were swept away, and only the two of them remained.
Noah slowly stroked Olivia's back. He explored and stroked the softly rising curves, watching her dark eyes become clouded and turbid.
Noah Astrid, who had been weary and unable to belong anywhere, existed within those round, beautiful black eyes.
"Noah..."
At the sound of his name flowing from her lips, it felt as if his whole body was melting.
The past two years.
In the days after Olivia left, he had seen her in his dreams several times. Ridiculously, he touched and held her in his dreams. Like a teenage boy, he had been in a constant fever.
He felt so disgusted after waking up.
You're living freely and well over there.
I heard you became a professor.
So you must be happy, and Herot's Noah Astrid must be of no concern to you.
What am I doing, clinging to your afterimage and doing this crazy thing?
So Noah felt a wicked joy at the sight of her crying endlessly on the old stone path. He felt relieved to see her unhappiness.
'I can take you away.'
Noah hugged Olivia deeper and burrowed into her. A shrill voice sweetly pierced his ears.
As a thrill he had never tasted anywhere else in the world ran through his body, he let out a low groan.
As Olivia turned her head to the side, Noah turned her face and kissed her.
"Look at me, Olivia. Don't turn your head."
Olivia, Olivia, Liv.
Noah constantly called her name, confirming his existence in her eyes and confirming his existence with her voice.
"Ah... Noah..."
A night that felt like dying was flowing by, buried in her faint, fragile voice.
The next morning, Noah prepared for his early commute as he had the day before. Methone muttered quietly, ignoring the curses Noah had spewed out the day before.
"If you could kill someone with curses, Ansen Wilhelm would be dust."
Even today, he was scheduled to have dinner with Libero Akiten.
"I'll be late today, so don't wait up."
"Okay."
"And don't wear that Corset too tight. You said it was uncomfortable, but you're wearing it from morning?"
Noah looked disapprovingly at the clothes that looked extremely uncomfortable, then put on the jacket she handed him.
"Oh, right, Noah. There's one thing I wanted to ask you."
"What is it?"
"Are you uncomfortable with the mansion you're staying in?"
Noah, who had been looking in the mirror, turned his body to look at Olivia.
"Not at all."
"Is there anything you feel is lacking?"
"Not really? Why, do you want to fix something? Then fix it however you want. Except for my office and this bedroom."
"So you don't really feel the need for it? It's not like the mansion doesn't look neat to others either?"
Noah narrowed his eyes and quietly looked at Olivia before saying bluntly.
"It seems Mrs. Timberlin is finding fault with the mansion."
"I was just curious. Go quickly."
As Olivia smiled and led him, Noah moved his steps to match her pace. And just before getting into the carriage, he whispered in Olivia's ear.
"If you feel bad, it means the other person acted like a dog. You're the superior, and you're the standard. Don't put up with it if they make you feel bad. Fight back. How dare they talk about my house."
"Okay. I'll act wisely."
"And those clothes... Never mind."
Noah glanced disapprovingly at Olivia's chest and got into the carriage. Why are all those dresses shaped like that?
"Have a good day!"
Even so, as she smiled brightly and saw him off, Noah's mood improved as well. Then he soon fell into the mire.
That was because he was already despondent about how long the evening with Libero Akiten, that leech-like bastard, would be.
When will I be able to return home?
Several hours after Noah left for work, Countess Timberline, who was all dressed up, entered the Prince's mansion.
There was actually nothing to fix in the beautiful ivory mansion.
Noah Astrid was a sensitive person, and he had grown up seeing only the most noble things since childhood, so he had a unique aesthetic sense.
Since it was a place where such Noah was satisfied with living, how high would the standard be?
However, Countess Timberline's ultimate goal was to seize the position of Princess Consort Olivia's close lady-in-waiting. To do that, she had to get rid of the people around her first. She had to make it so that only she remained, so that the ignorant Princess Consort would become subordinate to her.
In that sense, she was thinking of getting rid of the woman named Betty first.
'I have to hold the Princess Consort in my hands and shake her. If I establish myself well here, my children can also become capital nobles.'
The Astel region, where the Timberline Count family was located, was a terribly disgusting backwater. Her husband had hammered in the fact that he hated the hustle and bustle of the capital. The Queen Consort's proposal was really sweet to her, who wanted to return to the capital no matter what.
"Have you arrived, Countess Timberline."
Betty hurried out and bowed her head, but Mrs. Timberlin straightened her expression and brushed past her.
She moved her steps lightly, passed through the hall, and went up the stairs. She suddenly stopped and snatched the curtains hanging by the window in the hallway.
The expression of Betty, who was following behind, froze at her actions. Sure enough, the Countess tapped the curtains here and there, smelled them, and muttered as if she was very contemptuous.
"My goodness."
The servants who were passing through the hallway also looked at her with uneasy eyes. Mrs. Timberlin huffed and puffed, checking the curtains here and there, then turned her head sharply and glared at Betty.
"Listen here. When on earth were these curtains last washed?!"
"...They were replaced two weeks ago in preparation for winter."
"Two weeks? There's a limit to lying. Do you think I'm a fool?"
"......"
"Take down all the curtains immediately and put up new ones. There must be spare curtains, right?!"
Betty was momentarily taken aback before opening her mouth.
"Then I will ask His Highness first."
At that moment, a sharp slap flew.
Smack!
With a chilling sound, Betty's cheek turned to one side. It was a strong blow that made her body sway, but Betty quickly regained her posture. Her updo was disheveled, and her cheek quickly swelled up.
Even so, Mrs. Timberlin continued to huff and puff as if her anger had not subsided.
"I have come here to teach His Highness about the various knowledge of aristocratic society! Decorating the house as a mistress is the most important thing. You will do as I tell you!! I will tell His Highness myself."
"......"
"What are you doing?! Why aren't you taking them down right now!!"
A frosty yet piercing voice echoed sharply off the hallway walls.
The servants, who had been working under a cynical but fair Prince, shrank back at the Countess's unfamiliar behavior.
Betty let out a deep, long sigh and lowered her head a little more.
From her long career as a maid, she knew that in such cases, if she didn't give in to what the other person wanted, even greater retaliation would come. She might get slapped again right away.
It was just as Betty was about to answer with a complicated heart.
"Countess Timberlin."
A low voice was heard from the central staircase in the hallway.
