When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 71

The result was obvious.

He was going to make her fall for him so much that she wouldn’t be able to deny it? It was impossible.

If she accepted this bet, all Atalante had to do was ask for a ‘divorce’ as her wish on this day next year.

Of course, she had to consider the fact that he wouldn’t let her go obediently, so she obviously had to look for other ways in secret.

‘This is too easy of a way to get rid of this man.’

Atalante looked at him with a suspicion filled gaze, before nodding slowly. It’s because there’s no need for her to kick away the opportunity that rolled in.

“Alright.”

“Very well. We’ll have to grant the other’s wish, no matter what it is.”

“Yes, no matter what it is.”

As Atalante wouldn’t grant his wish, she could emphasise her answer.

“You’ve promised.”

Lionel, smiling, stared straight at Atalante.

“I might have told you this many times so you may be tired of hearing this, but thank you for marrying me. I will definitely make you happy.”

The power of his words were strong. It seemed like one day, that promise he made would become true and hold her back. Atalante was unable to respond, and changed the subject like a coward.

“……Then are you really going to hold hands and sleep without doing anything today?”

She felt mixed emotions when the obligations she thought were a matter of course and were weighing down on her were cancelled.

She appreciated his consideration, but she couldn’t help but worry about it. It’s because they weren’t a normal married couple.

The grand duke and the grand duchess. Aside from having children, there must be various reasons for their obligations.

But the grand duke that was below her was too easygoing. Rather…

“Can we hold hands… and sleep?”

What kind of silly words are those?

But Lionel seemed to be asking that question sincerely. There was an overloaded look on his face.

Even if Atalante was the one that provoked him first, it was a face that shouldn’t be appearing on a man that had just given her a hard time like he was about to swallow her whole.

“Can the grand duke think about how you’d rolled around with me earlier? And the fact that we’re embracing right now.”

“It’s, uh, too dark.”

Upon hearing his familiar excuse, Atalante couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“It’s alright to have relations, but you become shy when it comes to holding hands, how very unique.”

“Please don’t make fun of me. I’m still holding it back right now because I want to take things slow.”

“Yes, yes. I’m so glad that I have such a patient man as my husband.”

After hearing her teasing words, the grand duke made a sulky face in front of her for the first time.

At the sight of the face that was unlike him, yet the most Lionel Blanc-like face, Atalante couldn’t help but laugh loudly again.

“So the grand duke would occasionally be caught off guard like this.”

Thinking that he was surprisingly fun to tease, Atalante giggled while leaning her cheek on his chest.

Lionel’s eyes, which were fixed on the crown of the head that was slightly below her, darkened for a moment. Of course, Atalante, who had been laughing for a long moment, didn’t spot his gaze turning odd.

“I thought I asked you to call me by my name.”

“I do call you by your name often. It just doesn’t come out if I do it consciously. I’ll just call you however I want.”

“Is that so,” murmured Lionel, before letting out a mirthful sigh.

“Then I’ll also call you as I please.”

Atalante slowly raised her head, curious about his strangely languid voice. At that moment, an unfamiliar word flowed out of Lionel’s shapely lips.

“My wife.”

“What…”

“Atalante.”

Lionel, who’d whispered her name like it was like a dot, laughed lowly. Atalante could only open and close her lips at his charming smile.

‘Will I get used to that face after spending roughly four seasons together? I really hope so.’

“Oh, right! Shouldn’t we leave behind a trace?”

“A trace?”

Atalante knew that her face would turn red soon, and so she changed the subject urgently.

“I heard that the imperial nobles had to leave a bloodstain on the bed after the first night.”

In fact, she would often hear stories of brides that were driven out or persecuted because bloodstains weren’t left behind.

Although Argo refused to accept commissions from nobility, the organisations around them would often handle such requests.

But Lionel’s reaction was rather strange. She thought that he would start to look for blood eagerly, but he just looked at her with his widened eyes.

“What’s the reason for that?”

“I’m not too sure… Because it’s a symbol of purity?”

At first glance, that seemed to be the reason. While she wasn’t too pleased about it, she has now become a noble in name, and so she needed to pretend to comply with it regardless of her displeasure.

Lionel slowly raised his upper body with Atalante in his arms, and asked with his furrowed brows.

“It’s a rather difficult custom to understand. In that case, how will a male’s purity be proven?”

“What?”

Atalante only realised how unfair and ridiculous the custom was after hearing Lionel’s question.

“Since the person that first said such nonsense seems to like blood so much, shall I dye the bed of that person red with their blood? Or shall I hold the emperor responsible for letting such a custom continue?”

There was an irritated look on his face. Although he apologised immediately for his rough language, it didn’t seem like his expressions were going to ease.

“It seems like there isn’t such a custom in the Grand Duchy.”

“None. I’ve never imagined something like that.”

Lionel answered firmly, sighed and hugged her. His embrace was so warm that Atalante’s body turned languid, forgetting that this was the enemy’s camp.

As Lionel realised that the speed at which she was blinking became slower and slower, he asked in a friendly voice.

“You seem to want to do something special on the first night of our marriage, so why don’t we follow the new custom that I made?”

“How is something you’ve just made a custom?”

“Then from now onwards, I’ll order for the entire Grand Duchy to carry it out.”

“……What a tyrant.”

“That’s something I hear often.”

Lionel, who rubbed his cheek as she exposed him, asked again, “Won’t you do it?” and Atalante nodded like she couldn’t win against him.

“It’s not very hard, and you’re leaving something else instead of bloodstains.”

“Something else?”

“To kiss the place that the other is most dissatisfied with.”

It was such a cute idea that it was hard to believe it originated from the Grand Duke’s head.

The place that the other is most dissatisfied with?

She remembered having a conversation with Lionel regarding him before.

Before Atalante, who’d just come to her senses, could ask, “Don’t tell me…” Lionel smiled languidly and leaned his upper body towards her back.

Atalante’s nightgown was a thin chemise that opened from the back. It was slightly insufficient as clothing, but in any case.

Lionel unfastened two small buttons with a fairly skillful motion.

“W, wait a minute!”

Just as she let out a short yell, a soft warmth touched her back.

She couldn’t even become furious at his polite and light kiss. A heat that was incomparable to when that pattern was first engraved filled the area around her back.

The difference was that this heat wasn’t unpleasant at all.

“It’s pretty. I wonder if I should also engrave flowers on my body.”

“I said not to make fun of me.”

“I mean it.”

With a gentle smile, he fastened the buttons that he’d undone unhesitatingly.

His movements while dressing her were contradictory and felt rather stealthy. Perhaps it’s due to the hard fingertips that rubbed against her back inevitably.

“It’s your turn now.”

Lionel sat cross-legged and looked at Atalante expectantly.

On his face, which was filled with child-like excitement, the small spot on his left cheek seemed clearly visible. The shiny blue piercing on a single ear entered her vision as well.

With a sigh, Atalante approached him slowly.

‘Something like a peck is nothing when our tongues have already tangled together before.’

However, contrary to her bold thoughts, her mouth kept drying up. Perhaps it’s from him that she… It must be because of the scent that was so cheerful it gave her a headache.

Lionel, who’d detected her nervousness, smiled apologetically.

However, perhaps because he didn’t have any intention of backing down, he leaned his upper body towards Atalante. It was so that she could kiss easily.

“…Am I really supposed to do it?”

“I might cry if you aren’t going to do it.”

The man that smiled while threatening to cry soon closed his eyes. At the sight of his strangely coy face, her rigid body seemed to relax slightly.

A grand duke that waited for a villain’s kiss with his closed eyes. How very amusing.

Although she tried to be sarcastic internally, she couldn’t erase the thought that… the man before her was cute.

As though she was about to shoot, Atalante’s gaze was fixed on her target as she slowly approached his cheek. Just as she thought that she was about to touch something, Atalante immediately felt that it wasn’t Lionel’s cheek.

This familiar warmth clearly was…

As Atalante withdrew from him with a scowl, she covered her mouth with her arm.

“What, what are you doing! How could you suddenly turn your face around……!”

“It’s your fault for closing your eyes at the end.”

Atalante, who’d unintentionally kissed his lips, had a dazed look on her face.

“It wasn’t that difficult, but you failed to follow the custom. It’s a shame.”

With a lazy smile, he tapped his left cheek with an index finger and teased Atalante.

“My wife is a person that values customs and obligations greatly, so you wouldn’t just give up like that, would you?”

“What do you mean! You turned your head on purpose so that I couldn’t follow through!”

“It might have become a habit. I keep turning my head towards you unconsciously.”

That was nonsense, unless magnets were planted on each other’s lips.

As Lionel looked at the fuming Atalante leisurely, he wrapped her up in a soft quilt and whispered.

“I hope that you’ll succeed in following through with this custom in the future.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Atalante rushed toward Lionel’s cheek. But Lionel stopped her without batting an eye.

“There will be many more opportunities from now onwards. I hope that you’ll take your time to complete it.”

Atalante made an outraged expression at the sight of Lionel, who’d strangely changed from a while ago, as her mouth opened and closed slightly.

“I’m going to sleep!”

“What about holding hands?”

“I refuse!”

The infuriated Atalante turned around with the blanket that was wrapped around her by herself.

It was none of her business whether the noble grand duke caught a cold or not.

Lionel looked at the large bundle of blankets that appeared before him and laughed aloud.

Atalante thought that he would lay down with his back against her, but as usual,  Lionel went beyond her expectations completely.

Lionel stretched out his arms and embraced the roundly bundle of quilt, burying his face near the nape of her neck.

Although there was a fairly thick cloth between them, it was as though she could feel his breath.

With a light sigh, Lionel said something else instead of bidding her a good night.

“Please love me, Atalante.”

Perhaps Atalante could definitely push him away. But she just closed her eyes slowly, wrapped in Lionel’s arms and the fluffy quilt.

She decided that she didn’t push Lionel away because she was also exhausted.

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