Deceived 90

Chapter 90

***

Startled by the sudden kiss, Blair’s eyes widened. The moment their lips touched, Edmund pressed in fiercely, leaving her no time to catch her breath. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth in one swift motion, greedily mingling their saliva. Trapping her tightly within his massive frame, he took her lips ravenously. It was a movement that was nothing short of animalistic.

For a moment, Blair froze, unable to move. What on earth was he doing, out in broad daylight, in a space so wide open? It was utterly inappropriate. She also thought it was unlike him. Edmund had never treated her this way before. He had kissed her with relentless intensity before, but he had always left her room to escape. Whenever their breaths became entangled, he would pause briefly to gauge her reaction. It meant he was always in control of himself.

It wasn’t until she was gasping for air that Blair grabbed his shoulders. But with her feeble strength, she couldn’t resist his overwhelming physical power.

Blair began to push Edmund away, almost as if to shove him off. She turned her head to avoid his lips, which were crashing against hers with ferocity, and even tried to back away and flee, but it was all in vain. The more she struggled, the tighter the man’s arms wrapped around her. 

Holding Blair firmly, Edmund tilted her chin to deepen the kiss and devoured her lips. Startled by the force of his passionate advance, Blair managed to twist her lips slightly with all her might.

“Stop…!”

Her voice was almost a scream. The cry, which scattered as it brushed against his lips, miraculously brought the kiss to a halt. Yet the distance between their lips remained so close they seemed ready to meet at any moment. The chests pressed together without a gap, the eyes staring straight at her as if piercing through her, and the grip on her waist—all were imbued with a steel strength.

“Stop….”

So, with no choice, she clenched her teeth while remaining in his embrace. Meanwhile, Edmund, whose breathing remained perfectly steady, asked quietly.

“Why?”

“…What do you mean why?”

Confusion was the first thing to wash over her. Blair found it difficult to understand why he was acting this way, why he had lost control and was pressing her so forcefully.

He must know himself that he had lost his reason. Yet he showed no sign of regret. His voice was surprisingly cold.

“I should be the one who should be asking why.”

“Because this is the only way you’ll look at me.”

Blair swallowed hard and looked up at Edmund. Unlike his unwavering voice, his gaze was desperate. Blair couldn’t tell what emotion lay within those eyes. In fact, she didn’t even want to know.

Why was he making that face? A sudden sense of injustice welled up inside her. What on earth could a deceitful man—who had even stationed Rufus outside their wedding night bedroom—possibly be so desperate for?

“This is embarrassing, so please let go.”

“What’s so embarrassing about it?”

Edmund muttered under his breath as he ran his thumb over Blair’s wet lips.

“It’s not like we’ve only kissed once or twice.”

“Do you really think this is appropriate?”

“We’re husband and wife, Blair. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with kissing my wife.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not your real wife.”

Blair added, clenching her teeth.

“Nor am I a lover you can kiss whenever you please.”

“So does that mean you’re just a woman who’s slept around with a man who’s neither your lover nor your husband?”

“…What did you say?”

“If rumors get out, you’re the one who’ll be in trouble. Since things have come to this, why don’t you just stay my wife for the rest of your life?”

What on earth was he trying to do? Her tightly pursed lips trembled. The sadness that had been weighing on her chest gradually turned to anger.

There was no way a man as perceptive as he could fail to sense her wavering heart, yet she couldn’t believe he was responding with cynicism instead of understanding.

“This isn’t like you.”

Blair glared at Edmund and tried to pull her hand away. But he covered her wrist with his large hand and tightened his grip.

“You talk as if you know me well. Tell me, then.”

“Let go of me.”

“What exactly is ‘like me’?”

“I said let go.”

“Do you think you know me well just because we’ve lived under the same roof all this time?”

A cold smile played on Edmund’s lips. In stark contrast, his eyes, blazing like a fire, stared directly at Blair from a distance of less than a foot.

“No, I don’t think you know me at all. You have no idea how low I’m willing to stoop to get what I want, or that I’d gladly crawl through the filthiest mud to get it.”

Blair couldn’t believe her eyes. The face of the man who had always been so upright was now stained with madness, like that of a madman.

A long silence followed. The emotions that had flared up quickly died down. The man before her was so unfamiliar that even her anger lost its meaning. 

Just as Edmund had said, Blair couldn’t tell who he was in that moment. She couldn’t even tell if what she had seen all this time was his true self, or just an illusion she had wanted to believe in. Her heart ached, and she felt an indescribable sadness.

Only after Blair’s eyes, staring intently up at him, grew slightly moist did Edmund seem to regain his composure. His ash-gray irises trembled slightly, and the grip on her waist and hands slowly loosened.

“No, Edmund.”

“……”

“I think I’ve learned enough now.”

Blair carefully slipped out of his grip, trying not to let her voice trail off. Even as he let her go without resistance, Edmund’s gaze refused to leave her.

Blair looked into those eyes for a moment before turning her head away. Without adding a single word, she slowly turned her back and began to walk away. She knew he was watching her, but she never looked back.

13. Irreversible

Click.

The lock clicked open, and the massive wooden door swung wide. A tall figure stepped through the opening. Filled with the scent of old paper and leather, this was the study accessible only to the head of the Liberte family. The man’s well-dressed feet crossed the room with the familiarity of someone who had made it his own.

“Ha…”

Edmund took a deep drag on the cigarette he’d been holding since before entering the study and stubbed it out roughly in the ashtray. He felt as if his insides were being scorched black from smoking so much strong tobacco all day. Thanks to that, the raging madness had subsided, and a cool chill settled over his face.

The one thing he couldn’t shake off was the woman’s body heat lingering on his fingertips. It was excruciatingly irritating. As if to shake off those personal feelings, Edmund walked toward his desk. After all, his mind should be filled with nothing but revenge right now.

He reread the files in the drawer he had already examined and meticulously checked the top-secret document box he had taken out of the safe to ensure nothing was missing.

Uncharacteristically, he double-checked everything before letting out a short sigh. Then he placed his father’s documents down on the desk with a thud. He had suspected as much ever since conducting preliminary investigations through Benjamin, but there was no trace anywhere that Isabelle had been involved in his mother’s death twenty years ago.

It was unthinkable that Her Highness the Duchess would have been directly involved in murder, so it was highly likely to have been poisoning, and she had undoubtedly obtained the poison through a doctor. However, the family physician who had served the Duke’s household at the time had died of illness, and the medical records he had left behind had all been destroyed. The records, the witnesses, and the physical evidence had all vanished long ago.

Nevertheless, his conviction grew stronger by the day. Above all, the final words of Duke Liberte, spoken as he lay on his deathbed, solidified his suspicion. The will, which left not a single penny to Isabelle or Rufus, served to reinforce this as well.

But how much weight could the mutterings of a dying ghost possibly carry?

Even if decisive evidence were to surface, Isabelle would not be punished. In a world where money and prestige allow one to evade the law at will, and where no one cared about the long-ago death of a mistress.

Isaac Doman didn’t even receive a proper trial in court, despite pointing a gun at Blair, the fiancée of the master of Liberte. Edmund, who surely knew this, wanted Isaac to pay the price he deserved.

And so, to bring him and his family down, he quietly waited for Nicoletta Underhill to be ruined. He mobilized the press to expose the marquis’s family’s scandals and severed their financial alliances one by one, ensuring they could never recover. For Edmund’s goal was not the judgment of the law, but cruel revenge.

This had to apply to Isabelle as well. According to him, her fate had been sealed long ago.