Chapter 30
Crackle, crackle…
Elisha opened her eyes when she heard the sounds from the fireplace. ‘Where…is this?’ Through the darkness of the surroundings, the light from the fireplace shone on the ceiling. Elisha was startled to see the ceiling. It was not the antique ceiling of the Rubelin mansion, but an old wooden ceiling full of spider webs.
Elisha, who looked away in surprise, was even more surprised to see what was in front of her. ‘W-what? What’s this?’
A firm body of a man was embracing her. Naked at that. Surprised, Elisha struggled to get out of the man’s arms, and a low voice came from above her head. “You must’ve come to your senses now.”
When she looked up with astonished eyes, she saw Richard’s handsome face. His eyes were full of worries. “How are you feeling?”
Elisha, who blinked blankly, recalled the situation before she lost consciousness. ‘I remember falling off the cliff and someone suddenly hugged me…I can’t remember what happened after that…’
Realizing that she had lost consciousness due to the shock, she was convinced that it was Richard who caught and hugged her when she fell. Only then did she realize the reason why she and Richard were naked.
‘We must’ve fallen into the river under the cliff.’ Elisha answered with her eyes fixated on Richard’s face, trying not to look at his chest. “I- I’m okay.”
But, even without looking at his chest, she could still feel it. She could feel the warmth of his breath and his warm body temperature because they were sticking together so closely. She could even detect his slightest movement. On top of that, she felt even more strange as she looked into his eyes, which flickered under the light.
Elisha lowered her gaze and decided to fix her eyes on his neck instead. However, his thick and smooth neckline, his masculine Adam’s apple, and his attractive collarbone, which stretched straight above his chest, were even more explicit in showing off his sexiness.
Every time his warm breath hit her forehead, all the cells in her body became tense. ‘Ugh…’ Elisha, who felt embarrassed and didn’t know where to look, tried to creep away from Richard and widen their distance.
Noticing Elisha’s struggle, Richard tightened his embrace and said, “Even if you hate it, we need to sleep like this tonight. Your body…is still cold.”
When Elisha heard his words, she realized that he had done a lot for her. The struggle he went through to save her…The only person who stayed with her and shared his warmth when she lost her consciousness… “…I don’t hate it. I like it.”
There was a rare look of embarrassment on Richard’s face when she said that. Wondering about his unusual reaction, Elisha finally realized how strange her words sounded. ‘W-why did I say it like that? It was really weird! It sounded like I told him that I like hugging him naked! I- I just want to appreciate his kindness and express my gratitude!’
However, it would be awkward to suddenly explain that she didn’t mean it that way. Embarrassed, Elisha’s gaze wandered around the cottage because she didn’t know where else to look anymore.
In the end, she just closed her eyes. However, she couldn’t fall asleep. The image of Richard’s firm and wide chest kept playing in her mind. Whenever she felt the warmth of his chest, her heart pounded wildly. They were so close that she could hear his heartbeat vividly.
‘L-let’s think about good things. Only good things.’ She tried to calm herself down, but she couldn’t. Beyond the shared warmth, she gradually felt hot inside. Perhaps because of that, she became thirsty. Eventually, Elisha pulled out of Richard’s embrace with a blanket wrapped around her body.
Richard looked at Elisha with curious eyes. “Why?”
“I- I’m thirsty. I’m going to look for something to drink.”
“I looked around earlier, but there was nothing to drink.”
Elisha realized how foolish she was. In such an abandoned cottage, it was impossible to find something to drink. Even if there was something, she didn’t think it was safe to drink it.
At that time, Richard remembered something and pulled out a leather water bottle from their pile of clothes. “There’s only alcohol though.”
The northern men always carried around strong alcohol with them. It is a must-have survival item to maintain their body temperature in cold weather, especially in the dead of winter.
“Do you wanna drink it?”
Elisha received the alcohol from Richard and gulped it down. As soon as the alcohol flowed through her throat, she felt a burning sensation in her throat and stomach. She only drank a few sips to moisten her throat and handed it back to Richard. Then, she sat down while folding her legs together and rested her head on her knees.
Hiccup, hiccup… Elisha started hiccupping as she stared blankly at the light of the fireplace. Her face was already flushed due to the strong alcohol. Even her eyes, which were always full of life, were half-open. Only after a few sips of the alcohol, she became drunk.
Looking at Elisha, Richard burst out laughing. “Didn’t you say that you can drink alcohol like plain water?”
“Weelll…I was referring to the beeerrr…This is something elsee……” Elisha pouted her lips, complaining about Richard’s words with a tongue-tied voice.
Worrying that Elisha would feel cold again, Richard sat next to her. Then, he put another layer of blankets on her body.
Then Elisha’s half-open eyes turned to Richard. “Thanks, Richard.”
“…….”
“For saving me.”
“……”
“For growing up so well. And….” Elisha, who made eye contact with Richard, smiled with her eyes arching in happiness becoming half-moon shaped. “Thank you for coming back safely.”
Richard’s eyes looking at Elisha became agitated. Elisha took another sip of the alcohol, not knowing she had thrown a stone into the still lake. Then her hiccups stopped completely.
Richard, who was silent for a while, said to Elisha, “Sleep more. We still have a long way to go in the morning, so we need to recover our stamina….”
“No.”
“…So, you won’t sleep?”
“Don’t you feel anything? When you hug me naked, I can’t fall asleep…”
At Elisha’s frank remarks, Richard heaved a deep sighed. It was the same for him. He also couldn’t sleep. However, it was due to different feelings than hers. Elisha was just expressing her discomfort with the current situation without any hidden desire, but he wasn’t.
‘Maybe it’s because you don’t know…What kind of torture I went through when I struggled to suppress my desires as we were sharing our body temperature…and about how close I was to submit to my desires…Even at this moment.’ Richard stared at her innocent face and her lips that complained defenselessly.
“……do you think so?”
“Huh?”
“Me…do you think that I don’t feel anything?” Elisha, who was looking at Richard without any sense of crisis, paused.
Richard’s eyes, which had been soft a while ago, were burning with desire. The moment she saw those eyes, she instinctively felt threatened even though she was drunk. She knew that if she didn’t avoid those eyes, she’d be swallowed by them.
Elisha dodged Richard’s intense gaze as if she were running away. “I- I’m going to bed now.” She used all her might to get on her feet.
At that moment, Elisha’s body, which was out of balance due to the alcohol, stumbled sideways. “Ahhh!”
Richard quickly hugged Elisha and shielded Elisha’s head with his hand before it fell hard on the floor. That made him look at her from above. Attempting to massage her dizzy head, Elisha looked up at Richard. His intense gaze looked different than usual. Like a predator staring at its prey.
Looking into his eyes, Elisha felt as if her breathing had stopped. Those eyes, it seemed like he was about to rush in and bite her neck. Richard, who seemed like a familiar friend a while ago, had quickly become a complete stranger.
Her heart thumped. She had a hunch that if she didn’t avoid his gaze right away, she would be in an irreversible dangerous situation.
Strangely, however, she couldn’t take her eyes off his beautiful yet dangerous ruby-like eyes. The longer she looked at those eyes, the hotter her body felt. Looking at him as if she was possessed, she slowly opened her lips, “Richa-”
As Elisha was about to call his name, her lips were covered by his lips. Two soft and moist lips overlapped gently. A hot breath came out through the gap. The breath was sweet. However, the overlapped lips unexpectedly separated quickly.
But soon they faced each other again. This time, he went deeper than just touching her lips. Elisha flinched, but she did not push him away. No, she didn’t want to do that.
Elisha willingly accepted his passionate kiss, allowing herself to be trapped in his arms. Sharing breath with a man for the first time in her life made her realize that someone’s lips could feel so soft and sweet.
And he was a bit mean. He persistently took all her breath away, as if he was swallowing something that he could never have enough of.
“U-uh……” As Elisha became out of breath, Richard paused and immediately pulled his lips away from hers. His blood-like eyes looked bewildered, and soon they were filled with guilt.
But Elisha, who was still drunk, didn’t notice it. She only could see his moist red lips. Her eyes only focused on his soft and sweet lips.
Richard opened his mouth with a sigh, avoiding Elisha’s blank stare. “Sorry, I’m….”
As he laid Elisha down and tried to wrap her with another layer of blanket, she suddenly wrapped his cheeks with her hands and pulled him toward her. Feeling that the previous kiss wasn’t enough, she kissed him again.
“……!” Richard became momentarily stiff due to her sudden kiss. But soon, he greedily sucked at her defenseless lips. This time, his kiss wasn’t as careful as before. He kissed her persistently as his breath became rougher. He planted kisses all over her face and sought out her lips again.
Nevertheless, both of them enjoy each other’s lips, as if they were the sweetest thing in this world. They felt that the momentary pauses in the midst of their long kisses, to catch their breath, were a waste. The moment their eyes meet, Richard sighed in desperation.
In the meantime, Elisha’s thirst became deeper as her breaths got shorter. She wasn’t sure what she wanted at that moment, but she instinctively knew that only Richard could quench her thirst. So, she clung onto him desperately.
Realizing that they had the same desire, Richard overlapped his sweet lips with hers again, melting her cold body. In his life, he had destroyed a lot of things mercilessly to survive. But he had always been extra cautious when it came to her. He was afraid that her soft body would be hurt by his rough touch. But this time, he didn’t hesitate anymore.
“Richard….” Elisha called him while looking at him with misty eyes.
It was the first time he saw Elisha with such a messy look. The moment he saw her eyes gazing at him imploringly, Richard’s last bit of reason, which he had barely been able to hold onto, disappeared.
Overwhelmed by his desire to monopolize her small body and her nice scent, Richard’s body moved before he could even think. He passionately embraced her. Soon after, the hot heat mixed with a painfully sweet sensation melted her frozen body completely.
“Elisha…” Calling her name lovingly, Richard gently kissed Elisha’s eyes and lips. Elisha was breathing hard with her eyes closed. Looking at her, a sense of guilt belatedly came upon him. He was sorry for forcing her to accept him with such a small and tender body. He was sorry that they had spent their first night at such a shabby place, without any preparation. “…I’m sorry.”
Then, as if to answer him, Elisha kissed him on the lips. Surprised by the unexpected kiss, Richard looked at Elisha. Her green eyes were looking at him in contentment. The moment he looked into her eyes, he remembered what she had said once before.
[For your first time, you shouldn’t be swayed by anyone’s will and do it with the person whom you truly love.]
‘Do you know that, since the day I heard those words, there wasn’t any moment in my life that I didn’t desire you? That’s why I’m so overwhelmed and happy at this moment. Because this is what I had been longing for, for years.’
“Eli….” Richard opened his mouth to confess his feelings that he had been hiding for years. However, Elisha’s eyelids were already tightly closed. Looking at her falling asleep with a puzzled expression, he burst into laughter. Then he gently pressed his lips on Elisha’s forehead and whispered softly. “…Sleep well, my love.”