CH 88

The confession that was made with the utmost courage was so small and thin.

It was hard to even hear her voice.

“I was glad that Your Excellency had considered my position the other day.”

“Countess.”

“When the Royal Art Association interfered with this and that, I was grateful for your support.”

The sincerity that had been buried for a long time flowed out rambling.

“But all those things, even though the Duke said it was okay…….”

Her voice kept shaking, so Ines took a moment to catch her breath.

She was afraid that Enoch would hear her heart beating so wildly.

“How can you be okay?”

“…….”

“It’s not okay, because you sacrificed so much.”

Ines’s head was lowered further down.

“Your Excellency is a very good man, and I have already caused you a lot of trouble.”

Ines bit her lip.

She didn’t have the courage to look up at Enoch.

“With all my heart, I thought I shouldn’t burden the Duke.”

“Countess, that is…….”

“No, to be more honest.”

Ines swallowed her dry saliva.

She only found out now that she has confessed all her true feelings.

The true weight of her heart, which had been buried deep for a very long time, as she tried to ignore it.

That it was actually too heavy.

“If you know how I feel, I’m afraid we won’t be able to go back to our old relationship anymore…I was afraid of that.”

That’s why.

The feeling of venting all the sincerity was lighthearted and quite frightening.

‘What will happen to my relationship with the Duke now?’

‘All of a sudden…all of this buried feelings.’

“Your Excellency must feel awkward.”

A lot of thoughts were going through her mind.

But then.

Enoch stretched his hand and touched Ines’s cheek.

Before she knew it, Ines looked up at Enoch.

Their eyes met.

Eyes that shone with blue colors in the darkness looked only at Ines.

Ines felt her mouth dry.

‘It’s like the night sky.’

It was so deep, so clear that his eyes were sparkling, and so beautiful that she couldn’t help but cry.

‘It makes me want to stay in it forever.….’

“Why does the Countess care about me?”

A split voice asked her.

“Can I ask you?”

“…….”

Ines somehow felt lost.

It had been a while since she had stayed in the garden, and it’s about time she started feeling sober.

The heat rose up the whole body, making it impossible to judge rationally.

Those blue eyes that make her unable to move.

All of that paralyzed her mind.

“Are you asking because you don’t know….”

She didn’t know where the nerve came from.

Ines grabbed Enoch’s collar and pulled him toward her, reflexively closing her eyes.

Enoch hardened.

Her lips touched his briefly like a bird pecking.

Rather than a dense kiss between the opposite sex, it was a light kiss shared by young boys and girls who were aware of their first love.

Ines lifted her eyelids slowly.

Enoch, who was always relaxed, had a rare embarrassed face.

Facing the raw emotion, Ines opened her lips.

“What kind of heart am I feeling for you….You can’t be unaware of it, sir.”

A low whisper came out.

Enoch dazedly fixed his eyes on Ines in the moonlight.

A flushed face, wet eyes. The red lips that stood out clearly over the white skin, everything.

…Couldn’t help but drive him mad.

Meanwhile, Ines, who took a deep breath, schooled her expression.

She continued talking as calmly as possible.

“It’s okay to move on as if nothing happened.”

“Countess of Brierton.”

“It’s okay to move on thinking that I made a mistake because I drank too much. But I-.”

But Ines couldn’t finish her sentence.

It was because Enoch suddenly kissed her lips passionately.

It was a truly devouring kiss, as if it would swallow her from head to toe.

No breathing, no voice, all disappeared into Enoch’s lips.

Her dark green eyes opened wide.

“Uh… wait a minute……!”

Surprised, Ines tried to recede reflexively, but Enoch persistently followed her.

The tongues were intertwined, and breathing was mixed.

As the soft flesh entangled his tongue scanned through the even teeth, Ines felt a sense of whiteness in her head.

Her whole body seemed to melt away.

Ines clung to Enoch without realizing it.

His hard arms wound around her waist, Ines was sitting on Enoch’s lap before she knew it.

“Oh, sir, wait a minute…….”

Ines gasped desperately.

As her body attached to his wide and solid chest, her heart began to beat like crazy once again.

Only after being devoured for so long.

Enoch relaxed a little bit in his arms, embracing Ines.

Nevertheless, he didn’t let her go.

Enoch asked back in a slow, smiling voice, with Ines tightly locked in his arms.

“Why would I move on?”

“……Your Excellency?”

“I’ve been waiting for the Countess’s ‘mistake’ for a long time.”

Blue eyes looking straight into Ines’s.

It was a persistent gaze like that of predator to its prey.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a mistake or not. But what I can tell you is.”

Enoch declared emphatically.

“No matter how hard the Countess tries to push me now, I won’t retreat.”

It sounded like a declaration of war.

At that moment Ines was convinced.

‘Now… I can’t pretend I don’t know anymore.’

The affection that she had tried to suppress bursts out like a flood.

Like stepping on the wrong foot in the swamp and falling into it in an instant.

She foresaw a passionate love for the man in front of her.

But it was okay, though.

‘It’s okay if you can’t get out of it forever.’

Rather, she was willing to be buried in it.

“The exhibition hall… I have to go back.”

Ines managed to catch the reason on the verge of panic, and whispered so.

“I know.”

While answering so with his mouth, Enoch once again bowed to her lips as if it were a matter of course.

Ines closed her eyes again.

She naturally accepted his lips.

The mixed breath, the heat of his lips that devoured her tenderly, was so sweet.

Her head was in a daze.

* * *

The exhibition lasted until late and ended almost midnight.

So in the carriage where the two of them sat.

Ines was fast asleep on Enoch’s shoulder.

“Countess,”

“…….”

Enoch quietly called Ines, but Ines didn’t think to open her eyes.

Only regular breathing sounds were heard.

‘You must have been very tired.’

After kissing in the night garden, Ines and Enoch went back to the exhibition hall.

Ines entertained the distinguished guests with a graceful appearance.

It was simply an impeccable figure of a lady.

The Marquess of Attlee smiled strangely and asked mischievously, but Enoch didn’t answer.

However, the situation changed as soon as the VIPs were sent back.

Due to the fatigue and alcohol accumulated for several days, Ines fell asleep as soon as she got in the carriage.

“…….”

Enoch stared down at Ines.

In the past, he only folded his coat and placed it under her head as she leaned on the carriage side.

Now Ines was sitting close enough to feel her breath.

He felt happy as their distance shortened.

Only…

‘This is too… Isn’t she defenseless?’

Even so, Enoch was a man, and she fell asleep on his shoulder like this.

Perhaps that’s how much Ines trusted him.

‘……but still.’

Enoch had mixed feelings at heart.

He was a gentleman but it was hard because he was attracted to her.

“Damn it.”

The two emotions were intertwined and his head was about to explode.

And then.

The carriage came to a standstill.

Enoch, who fixed his eyes on Ines as if possessed, hurriedly raised his head.

‘……it was dangerous.’

He didn’t think he had ever been so driven to the point where his reasoning was cut off in his life.

Just in time, the hotel staff came running and opened the carriage door.

“We have arrived, sir….?”

The Countess of Brierton was sleeping soundly on the shoulders of the Duke of Sussex.

The atmosphere between the two was rather intimate.

The employee’s eyes were round.