My Vengeful Former Lover - Chapter 90

Looking at her back, Lucius’ forehead creased, “A cloak in the middle of summer?”

Deatrice wordlessly combed her hair, the fine-toothed wood rustling against her luscious hair. From this angle, Lucius could see that her face was still dewy from her bath and a faintly sweet scent emanated from her body as he sat a few steps away.

Lucius was nailed to his seat and looked at her without moving.

Gliding her fingers through the silk-like strands so slowly that it almost felt like a ritual, Deatrice inhaled heavily and replaced the burning incense next to the dressing table.

Everything was clean and tidy until the cloak’s string was untied and messily fell to the floor. The body exposed underneath was too provocative as her almost transparent nightwear barely covered her nakedness.

Deatrice calmly waited for Lucius’ response. She expected him to ridicule or embarrass her. However, even after more than ten seconds passed, her anticipated response didn’t come. Raising her head, she saw Lucius was only looking at her quietly like he had already suspected something similar to happen.

The soft light from a thin candle illuminated her skin.

Lucius said, looking at her face which was slowly turning crimson, “What are you doing?”

The dryness in his voice could’ve made anyone who heard it in the same situation utterly uncomfortable.

Deatrice blinked her eyes in slight embarrassment, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her cheeks. The emotions she’d been holding back warmed her stomach and her eyes reddened at the smothering feeling in her throat.

“To fulfill our duties as a married couple—”

“Duties?” He laughed, unable to believe what he had heard. However, it was short, and he returned to his serious attitude. “Did you expect me to fall for your trap if you came in dressed like that?”

His tone hinted at the fact that he may be insulted. But in this situation, she was more likely to be insulted rather than him.

Deatrice blushed despite herself and suddenly felt very small.

The anger he had been holding back for quite some time now slowly took over his emotions, engulfing him.

“Married couple’s duty…” he mocked, “Why don’t you put some more sincerity behind your excuses? Just be straightforward and tell me that you want to bear my child so that I won’t leave you. But have you thought about how it might not be enough to move my heart and might make me abhor you even more?”

At the receiving end of his arctic gaze, Deatrice tightly clenched her fists in shame. In her periphery, she suddenly saw a crumpled piece of paper. The remnants of her emotions slowly ebbed like the receding tides.

“You read the letter?” She didn’t specify which letter, but they both understood.

As if he had no intention of keeping it a secret, he calmly affirmed. “Yes.”

“Yes? You opened my letter without my permission?” Deatrice felt fury rising within her, “Just how low can you go?”

“I’ve already sunk too far beneath for you to even reach me, and that was nothing more than a useless letter.”

“Then you have no idea what it truly meant.”

As Deatrice spoke, tiredness seeped out of her pores. Lucius’ expression changed and said coldly. “Even if you bore my child, nothing will stop me from annulling our marriage. I will find your every flaw and use it against you when we’re finally in court.”

Deatrice, naturally, didn’t expect things to go smoothly. But just because she knew in advance that he might say scathing words to her, didn’t mean she could avoid feeling stung by them. With the severity of his coldness right now, she wouldn’t be surprised if he personally threw her outside the gates.

Face pale, the warmth escaped her body as the cold wind slowly siphoned them away from the open terrace.

“Scum.”

Lucius laughed. “If I was truly a scum of the earth, your life wouldn’t have been as smooth sailing as it had been. My true idea of revenge is nowhere near what you’re experiencing now.”

“…”

He approached her slowly.

The way he stood close and looked down at her face was daunting. Deatrice didn’t back down as she fearlessly stared back at him. Her hatred for him and the embarrassment of having her most desperately hidden secret revealed made her legs tremble.

She wiped the tears off her face, uncaring of the fact that she showed weakness in front of the enemy.

Lucius lifted her chin with little force and lowered his head as if to kiss her eyes.

“It’s so easy to bully a girl. But how long do you think you can hold out against me?”

She tried to hit him, but he easily stopped it by grabbing her hand. Lucius held her hand and used it to cup his cheek. Closing his eyes as he leaned into her touch, he didn’t look one bit like a person who had just uttered inhuman words to her.

He looked serene, submissive, and a little tired…

Deatrice was immediately horrified by his appalling change of attitude and roughly pulled her hand away. Unable to keep his hold on her, Lucius let go of her hand and looked at her with half-lidded eyes.

When he saw her practically naked, his unbearable anger was for different reasons. How could she have easily given up on her pride and dignity? The problem was that she always obeyed her father, and this meant she would still obey him even if it meant doing unmentionable things with a man.

If he commanded her to do it with a stranger, would she still blindly follow?

The duke had dictated her whole life. A single objection or command and it was like she would do whatever it took to please him without hesitation.

She didn’t refuse when she let her father arrange her engagement with the second prince, then she chose her father when she found out about the truth behind his birth, and she also chose to save her father by marrying him without nary a care for her well-being.

And now, it seems she has chosen her father again seeing that she’s in their room, almost naked.

If she had ever shown even the slightest bit of objection, even once, Lucius wouldn’t have been this angry. The effect of that sorry-excuse-of-a-father on her was simply too disgusting. He hadn’t noticed it before, but he did now. The duke’s claws on her throat dug too deeply and they had been controlling her decisions ever since.

However, as he wanted to pour out the words from his mouth, drowsiness dominated him.

The soft and warm woman he had longed for was in front of him, and it would feel good if he could touch her. Lucius felt humiliated in himself for being swayed by her irresistible charm, but at the same time, he felt the desire to surrender everything.

What he felt, Deatrice could also feel as shown by the confused expression between her brows. She was just feeling contempt for him when all of a sudden a foreign feeling welled up in her.

Lucius pulled Deatrice slowly and laid her on the bed, gently removing the damp hair that clung to her face.

“Should we kiss, Deatrice?”