Chapter 25
The servants hesitated, but at Maxim’s order to get out, they quickly left the place.
Rose took the bath brush they had left behind and walked over to his back. A few strong drinks gave her strangely useless courage.
Looks like it’s going to happen now.
She lowered her eyes and began to gently scrub his broad shoulders with the brush.
“The acting was quite plausible. I thought you meant it. I was mistaken.”
To Maxim’s sarcastic remarks, Rose responded with bitterness.
“It’s even more surprising that you take it for granted.”
As he smiled, the tight muscles of his shoulders swung upward once.
“The Counts of Etoile seem to have gotten along quite well.”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve seen.”
Rose answered by rubbing the brush so hard that his skin turned red on purpose.
“Are you sure you weren’t really waiting for me?”
As he asked, her brushing became slower and slower. To be honest, she was curious about when he would come back. Several times a day, she remembered the scene when he left the room, saying that he would come back quickly. Sometimes, she stared blankly down at the drawbridge under the castle.
Because if Maxim Lankert died,
“Our plan will go to waste,” he said, rationalizing the reason for the impatient wait.
“Because if I die, the plan will go down the drain.”
“That’s why you waited.”
“You were terrified that I might come back as a corpse.”
He laughed, saying, “I knew it.”
Rose was offended because Maxim seemed to be mocking her.
“Yes! That’s why I’ve been waiting until my eyes fell out. All right?”
Rose threw the brush away and splashed hot water on his shoulder.
“We were just faithful to our plan up until now. We don’t want to be misunderstood by breaking it!”
“It’s fine. I don’t want to mess around with it either. Let’s do it seriously in the future.”
Rose’s heart pounded at what he said. “Let’s take it seriously”.
It seems that Maxim took her words to mean something else.
“What I’m saying is!” Rose shouted in embarrassment, then spoke again in a calm voice.
“It meant that in order for me to have power, we had to look good. So, please don’t misunderstand.”
Maxim tilted his neck and looked up at Rose.
Because of the close distance, “What misunderstanding?”
Water dripped from his ruffled black hair onto Rose’s thin pajamas. Unlike usual, Maxim was drowsy, and his golden eyes were slightly closed.
He was looking at her seductively. Rose was captivated by those eyes as if she was obsessed with them. Rose swallowed hard.
As the steam in the bathtub rose up, his smooth and firm chest, which looked as hard as a god of war’s, became visible.
Not knowing where to look, Rose tried to get up. At that moment, he grabbed her wrist. Rose couldn’t move and stiffened in a slumped posture.
Maxim placed his lips gently on Rose’s wrist.
Because he was in the bathtub, his lips that touched her wrist were as hot as a hot iron. Maxim now began to kiss the back of Rose’s hand gently.
The feeling of quietly pressing on her hand was so strange that Rose tightly closed her eyes for a while.
‘Alas!’
Rose’s eyes widened at the strange sensation traveling down her spine.
Maxim penetrated the tender flesh between her fingers, flipped it up with his tongue, and suddenly bit her finger slightly.
“Well, that’s enough! …Please.”
Rose pulled her hands back and fell to her feet.
Splash!
He got up from the bathtub and looked at her.
Rose, who saw Maxim’s naked body, opened her eyes wide and stared at his beastly threatening body.
Her purple eyes were startled; they looked like they would shatter at a light touch. Maxim gently held Rose’s face with both hands.
He whispered as he lowered his head so that their noses touched.
“It’s really weird.”
Maxim and Rose’s eyes entangled as if they were pushing each other away.
“······What.”
“Even though I blow off necks one by one and have the stench of blood all over my body, I keep thinking about this.”
Maxim lowered his eyes slowly, and lightly held Rose’s lips, then pulled apart.
“Because of that, I thought I was crazy.”
Rose opened her mouth with a shocked face.
“You… You’re all naked now.”
“What about it? We’re a couple.”
Maxim, who was soaked with water, hugged Rose tightly, making her thin pajamas cling to his body.
A small smile spread across Maxim’s lips as if he was satisfied as he saw Rose’s skin reflected transparently through her wet pajamas.
“Let’s take a bath. We’re both wet anyway.”
“Ah!”
Before she could answer, Rose’s body suddenly floated into the air.
Locked in Maxim’s tight arms, Rose sank as if being sucked into a hot tub. Rose panicked and grabbed his shoulder with both hands. Maxim wrapped his arms around Rose’s waist and supported her firmly.
His tongue cut through Rose’s lips. His tongue, hardened like a long-hungry beast, greedily craved the inside of Rose’s moist, hot lips. Rose. Pull it, push it deep, and suck it up. She felt dizzy as if she was fainting, whether it was because of drunkenness or because of his kiss, whose tongues were so intertwined that she couldn’t breathe.
Rose’s body felt numb, as if under anesthesia, and her heart was beating so fast. Only the sound of saliva mixing and the sound of heartbeats rang in her ears.
“Sigh ……!”
For a moment, Maxim closed his lips and looked at Rose, who was panting like a deer running away from a wild beast.
The bright red swollen lips that were sucked by him and the eyes staring at him completely relaxed him and made him even more excited.
“ha-ha-ha·····.”
Rose let out breaths breathlessly.
At that moment, Maxim, noticing something strange, put his palm on her forehead and quickly touched her face and neck. Her forehead was like a ball of fire, while her tonsils were swollen.
“I’m dizzy.”
After barely uttering these words, Rose’s head fell helplessly on Maxim’s chest.
“Damn it.”
Maxim lifted her up, wrapped her in a large towel, and hugged her. He could feel her mouth getting too hot when they kissed, but he thought it was because it was just hot in the bathtub. He couldn’t believe that her condition was this bad.
I thought you were lying when you said you weren’t feeling well in front of Mrs. Katrina earlier. It looks like you’re really in pain.
Dressed in his robe, he hurriedly pulled the string hanging by the bed.
Even in such a condition, I thought that she was a woman who had no plans of asking him to spend the night together.
‘Why the hell did you drink that damned strong drink!’
“Did you call?”
When Freddie’s voice was heard outside, Maxim walked over and opened the door. On this late night, Freddie’s eyes widened, wondering what’s going on with His Majesty. Maxim nodded and pointed into the room.
“Rose seems to have a fever, so call the maids to change her clothes.”
Freddie was startled and quickly looked towards the bed.
“Is she really unwell? I will take action immediately.”
Freddie turned and quickly walked down the hallway. When Freddie left, Jansen, who was standing behind him, appeared and looked into the room with a worried face.
“Is she in a very bad condition? It looks like she got sick after being hit by the cold rain earlier.”
“It’s raining. So you mean she really went out?”
Maxim asked Jansen with sharp eyes.
As soon as he saw Jansen in front of him, he noticed something strange. Come to think of it, I didn’t see him when I arrived at the castle earlier. It was suspicious that he, who is always next to Maxim when he arrives, was late today.
“Why didn’t I see you earlier?”
“Actually, I have something to tell you.”
“Say it.”
“I told the Queen that I would personally tell you when Your Majesty comes.”
“Tell me already.”
Maxim narrowed his brow in annoyance.
“Actually, I was just in the dungeon. I knew that Your Majesty would definitely come tomorrow.”
“Dungeon?”
Maxim’s face contorted. What the hell does she have to do with the dungeon?
Jansen looked around for a moment and then replied secretly.
“It’s a little unusual.”
“What nonsense. What happened?!”
“I’ll tell you the details as we go down.”
Maxim looked at the place where Rose was lying, eyes mixed with worry and anger. What the hell was this woman doing while he wasn’t here! The cool, serene dungeon lit up with sunshine. Jansen and Maxim walked into the depths of the prison with hardened faces.
“It was like this earlier. I left for a while when I heard the news that Your Majesty had come.”
The two soldiers who were guarding the corner of the room were spread out in front of the entrance, stabbed with swords. Maxim walked past them and approached the one who was lying in the prison.
“He died of strangulation.”
“You know the situation in the dungeon very well, so it’s clear you know what’s going on inside.”
Maxim looked around calmly to see if there were any hidden ones. After confirming that there was no one there, he patted the corpse with a scabbard. There was nothing special about him.
Judging from his body, he wasn’t even severely trained to wield a sword. Having sent such a naive person, it was clear that he didn’t even think it would take a skilled master to get rid of a single Rose Etoile.
“I killed you to keep your mouth shut.”
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