Chapter 107

“Diello? Where are you hurt?”

I grabbed him in surprise.

“….”

Diello pointed to a spot above his heart with a distorted face.

Lily?

Just as I thought that, he closed his eyes slowly and then opened them again, letting out a heavy breath. I supported his faltering body.

“Are you okay? Is it because you used a lot of ability?”

He must have been tired as he had been working without rest even after the long battle.

“Should we lie down for a moment?”

“No, Krua.”

He closed his eyes again as if he was trying to endure something. As if he was suppressing it.

“… You’re not trying to hide something, are you?”

He seemed as if he was in a lot of pain somewhere though he was hiding it. However, his lips, which had been pursed at my words, went up.

“I was trying to hide it.”

I narrowed my eyes at his words.

“I told you not to hide it.”

Diello turned to me a beat late at my words.

“Really?”

The moment after, I nodded without thinking.

―Thud.

In the blink of an eye, he came closer to me.

I blinked.

He was the one who was sitting in the office chair, but my field of vision changed in an instant, and I was the one who was sitting in the chair looking up at him. The warmth that Diello had left on the chair seemed to envelop my body.

Creak.

The office chair that was pushed against my body made a sharp sound.

As if the sound was unpleasant, Diello’s hand reached for the chair. At the same time, his hand that was placed on my shoulder felt hot. He smiled with his lips pressed against my forehead. His breath, which scattered very close, was hot.

“Like this?”

What…

His blue eyes seemed to be shining with a slight blue light. As I got closer to him, I could also feel the magic of the lily that was binding him. Just as I thought that the magic of the lily, like his eyes, was shaking unsteadily…

“….”

He closed his eyes slowly again and then opened them and smiled.

“You asked me why I became stronger, Krua.”

I nodded as if I was possessed, looking at him.

He smiled faintly.

“…Shall I tell you the reason?”

There must be a reason why he was telling me this now.

My mouth, which had opened slightly without my knowledge, felt parched. Diello’s eyes, which had been smiling faintly, seemed to have sunk a little as though some truth was hidden behind the shadow cast over his eyes.

I nodded without realizing it.

“…Yes.”

The hand that was holding my shoulder and the hand that was holding the chair were both trembling.

“Okay.”

In response to my answer, he leaned towards me and sat me down in the chair.

Thud.

I thought he was going to collapse on me, so I grabbed his hand that was hanging over the armrest. His gaze then fell on my hand and then fell away.

“…Yes, like that.”

He took a breath and continued.

“Before I surprise you anymore, Krua.”

His other hand was placed on top of mine—

“Hold it tight.”

—So that I couldn’t dig into him anymore.

His voice, which whispered so, was hot.

“….”

The gaze that briefly crossed paths was burning with heat.

He raised his free hand and stroked my head, then gently brushed the back of my neck. The place where his name was engraved with congestion, where the sensation was sensitive, I could feel it all along with his fingertips.

“This name.”

By the time he said that, I suddenly felt a strange sense of unease. Of course, the Duke of Alors was dead, so the congestion he left behind should have disappeared. Then, the tingling sensation I felt whenever something touched the congestion… should be gone, too.

The moment I opened my eyes wide.

Diello smiled smoothly.

“Erase it, Krua.”

His voice echoed sweetly around me.

“Now that there is no Duke of Alors to deceive, and you are the head of Alors, you should be able to erase it, shouldn’t you?”

His fingertips traced my name. My sensitive skin tingled, and I couldn’t help but tremble.

“―If it can be erased, that is.”

There was a kind of conviction in his words.

No way.

Smooch.

The sound of him approaching and kissing my ear as he moved away was unusually loud. The voice that was filled with pleasure came next.

“Prove once again that you are a fake, Krua,” he whispered.

His gaze and mine were intertwined at a very close distance.

Swoosh.

The water that had moved in disbelief spread out to the back of my neck.

However…

“….”

There was no condensed magic power. It was supposed to be condensed by the magic power of the Duke of Alors. Of course, it wasn’t there because he was gone. Then, what in the world is the name he’s stroking with his fingertips? His name, which was engraved to me forcefully?

Diello, who never took his eyes off me, was watching my every change in expression as he wrote my name with his fingertips.

I gradually opened my mouth.

“What the hell is this…”

There was only one answer.

Seeing Diello smiling as if he had read my mind, I asked him for confirmation.

“…Am I the Ferro?”

Yours?

Diello nodded at my words.

“Yes.”

“…How?”

I couldn’t understand.

Surely, his Ferro was Venia, and I thought someone else would have become Ferro after Venia died. Then, why me? Was it because we were in the middle of the fire in that conference room? Wasn’t the title supposed to be passed on to someone else as soon as they died?

Then, why am I―

“It’s okay.”

“It’s okay.”

My eyes suddenly widened.

The black-haired boy in the burning house. I had comforted him.

No way.

Diello found out about that when he was young, and we got to know each other? He found out that we met each other back then?

The moment our eyes met again, Diello smiled beautifully.

“Do you know what this means?”

His fingertips wrote my name again.

Diello, Argenta.

It was vividly drawn even without concentrating. His name was drawn by his fingertips. His familiar handwriting seemed to be engraved on my back with ink called heat.

Creak.

He had gotten closer to me without me realizing it. Was it my fault that I was sitting deep in the chair? He didn’t miss the gap between my legs.

His knees dug into the chair.

It was too close.

The hem of my dress crumpled against his knees. Diello then laughed as I couldn’t hide my embarrassment.

“It means you have no reason to push me away.”

Smooch.

He kissed my ear. With one hand still trapped under mine, he was closing the distance between us so freely.

Too skillfully.

“…Diello.”

I had no choice but to ask him.

“Yes.”

“Was it a lie that you can’t do skinship?”

Diello blinked at my words. The next moment, tilting his head slightly, he smiled softly.

“I don’t think that’s something I can evaluate.”

Well… I guess so. If he had done it to someone else, who would have evaluated it? The moment I thought that was unpleasant, Diello buried his face in my neck with a deep smile.

“So, tell me, Krua.”

Whether my words were a lie or not.

“Ah.”

My neck felt a little tingly as well. However, it was when I tilted my head back in a strange feeling that Diello pulled away from me slightly and met my forehead at a distance where our eyelashes almost touched.

“….”

He smiled faintly and kissed my nose.

Smooch.

As I realized that a sweet kiss had brushed past, he was already raising his free hand and stroking my cheek. With one knee on the chair, he trapped me between the back of the chair and himself so that I couldn’t move a muscle and carefully lifted my hand.

“….”

Without taking his eyes off me, he raised my left hand to our eye level.

The lips that touched my ring finger were soft.

He kissed my ring finger with his lips as if he were spreading soft cream and then kissed the back of my hand. The moment his soft and moist lips were imprinted on the back of my hand like a stamp, a tingling sensation seemed to pierce through my whole body.

“….!”

I unconsciously tried to close my legs, but his knees were already between my legs. He was coming at me like a tidal wave.

Creak.

The office chair moved back a little more with his movement.

“….”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around my back. As we got closer, I unconsciously tightened my grip on the armrest. I could feel his hand trembling under my firmly pressing hand.

“Hold on tight.”

“So I can’t come to you any further.”

That was the hand he had given me to hold.

Still, I couldn’t stop him even though I was holding this hand tightly.

I couldn’t… stop him.

“….”

The lips that had been kissing the back of my hand were now lightly touching my ear.

“Is this… difficult for you?”

He seemed to sense that I had stiffened up from the unfamiliar yet strange feeling, and he pulled back slightly as if to retreat.

Then, he pulled me into a tight hug.

“Ah…!”

His knees crumpled the end of my dress and approached deeply, and when I unconsciously raised my head, the moment he marked his trace on my neck again…

“This…”

He stopped abruptly.

He was looking at my disheveled clothes without me realizing. To be exact, the white light was faintly visible even over the clothes. It seemed that the black lily mark that had shone on his collarbone at the wedding.

It was gradually shining in the same place on my body.

“Ah…!”

My eyes widened.

“…It seems to appear when you become the head of the family.”

It wasn’t just at the wedding. Well, since there weren’t many people in the history of the three families who had the head of another family as their Ferro―

Wait a minute.

As I thought about it, my eyes suddenly widened. My eyes met Diello’s who was narrowing his eyes at me from very up close.

“…Really.”

He slowly opened his mouth.

“It’s difficult.”

His clear voice, tinged with heat, pierced into me. He briefly kissed my clothes, which were glowing faintly white.

“….!”

Before I could be surprised by the deep intrusion, a deep voice echoed.

“You’re the head of the family.”

His deep-sea eyes, which were darkly sunken, looked up at me.

“It’s difficult that you’re this capable.”

He bit his lip.

“What if another man shows up, claiming to be your Ferro?”

Soon, he spat out in a husky voice.

“I have to erase this.”

Only he should be able to erase this.

It was a voice filled with strong possessiveness.

—