<CHAPTER 18>
If You Took Me, You Have to Take Responsibility
Evelyn, who had lost her balance just like that, landed awkwardly in her fiancé’s embrace.
Unintentionally pressing her face against the man’s chest, she swallowed dryly.
In the silent room, only the sound of someone’s heartbeat echoed loudly.
Amidst this, Aksion’s body, visible in detail, was magnificent like a meticulously crafted art sculpture.
‘No, wait. What am I thinking right now!’
Evelyn, who had suddenly come to her senses, jerked her head up.
Then her gaze tangled with the man who was staring at her persistently.
Evelyn took a deep breath and rolled her eyes around.
Then she spoke in a slightly trembling voice.
“You……………… why are you suddenly acting like this?”
At that question, Aksion’s red heterochromia shone even more distinctly.
The man, who had drawn a soft curve at the corner of his mouth, whispered softly in her ear.
“Evelyn, are you satisfied with just this much?”
Evelyn’s pupils, which had been gazing at her fiancé’s handsome beauty as if entranced, trembled finely.
For this moment alone, she thought there couldn’t be a more beautiful subject than him.
Aksion’s lips, which had been watching her quietly, slowly parted.
“I don’t think I can stop.”
Sensing the dangerous situation instinctively, Evelyn straightened her expression and moved her body back.
Then, surprisingly, Aksion released her willingly.
She wanted to ask why he was suddenly acting this way, but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out easily.
She merely avoided his gaze, barely keeping her eyes from crossing the line drawn between them.
In the suffocating silence, Aksion let out a chuckle.
“What are you so nervous about?”
Only then did Evelyn realize she had fallen for her fiancé’s prank.
“You……………you!”
Despite having worried just moments ago about how to get out of the situation, the man was now completely nonchalant.
When Evelyn glared at him sharply with resentful eyes, Aksion seemed to be smoothing out her disheveled dress ribbon, then slowly untied the knot.
‘Wh-what. Why is he doing this again.’
Evelyn’s body flinched involuntarily, and her eyes shone with bewilderment.
Then the man tied the ribbon firmly so the knot wouldn’t come undone.
“We still have plenty of time.”
***
Having finished the boat party, Evelyn returned to the Count’s residence late at night.
While dragging her feet, overwhelmed by the fatigue washing over her, Viaron, who had been examining documents in the drawing room, approached her with a puzzled expression.
“You’re only coming back now?”
“What else would it be.”
Viaron nodded indifferently and cast his gaze back at the documents.
When she nodded her head blankly, he tilted his head.
“You. Your face looks a bit red?”
At those words, Evelyn’s green pupils grew as large as lamp flames.
Soon, she shook her head strongly toward her older brother and spoke urgently.
“Red, what red—”
Evelyn, who arrived at her bedroom with quick steps, collapsed onto the bed without even changing out of her dress.
‘This is all because of the imprinting.’
Recalling what had happened with her fiancé in the guest room, her brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Is this guy really crazy?”
Evelyn, who had been pressing her throbbing temple, bit her lower lip.
How could he repay kindness with enmity?
At that moment, she had been too flustered to argue about anything.
But now, retorts were coming to her one after another, and she felt unnecessarily resentful.
Viaron’s earlier comment about her face was probably also due to this ill temper.
Having finished that thought, her complicated mind seemed to settle a little.
Aksion Valentino, who do you think you are!
She had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to sleep comfortably tonight.
***
Less than a day after the imprinting, Evelyn sat across the table from her fiancé.
“First, thank you for accepting my invitation.”
She had sent an urgent message to the Valentino family this morning, and fortunately, Aksion had accepted.
The man, who had nodded his head, lazily raised the corner of his mouth and answered in a newly affectionate voice.
“I was curious about my fiancée’s business, you see.”
The quick-witted Aksion seemed to have noticed that his fiancée had some scheme in mind.
At his gaze that seemed to say ‘get to the point without beating around the bush,’ Evelyn handed him a document.
Then, with her hands clasped under her chin, she spoke in a determined voice.
“Aksion, I’d like you to sign this document.”
At Evelyn’s sudden proposal, Aksion stared at her with indifferent eyes.
“What is this, all of a sudden.”
“Hehe. It’s a contract I made.”
Evelyn pointed to the document she had worked on all night with a proud expression.
Last night, she had ended up imprinting with him in a daze, and they hadn’t reached a proper agreement yet.
Therefore, she had meticulously written down the terms they needed to abide by in the contract.
Aksion, who had briefly looked over the received document, let out an exasperated scoff.
“Evelyn.”
The man, who had suddenly called her name, blazed with a dangerously magnificent gaze.
“The engagement, the imprinting. It’s too late to back out now.”
At her fiancé’s low warning, Evelyn’s pupils shook mercilessly.
“Too late to back out………………?”
Aksion raised one eyebrow obliquely.
Then he soon delivered an extremely rude and brazen answer.
“I told you. It’s no use regretting it.”
‘Don’t tell me…………… is he trying to bind me?’
Evelyn’s heart began to beat rapidly.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.
It seemed he was thinking of marriage based solely on the fact that they had imprinted,
Though she was greatly flustered, Evelyn forced herself to remain calm and opened her mouth.
“Listen carefully, Aksion.”
Then she went through the clauses of the contract she had written all night, explaining them one by one.
“It’s absolutely not a loss for you, okay?”
To the extent that there was a clause stating she would cooperate with him as an imprinted partner even if they broke off the engagement later.
So she desperately hoped that he would understand and accept her words this time.
But that seemed to be nothing more than her vain wish.
Aksion pulled the corner of his mouth slightly, showing no intention of backing down whatsoever.
“But Evelyn.”
“…?”
As Evelyn swallowed dryly, wondering what bizarre words would come out of him next,
The man, who had been staring at her, added with a chillingly beautiful smile.
“If you took me, you have to take responsibility.”
Evelyn, unable to hide her flustered expression, merely gaped with her mouth open.
She had planned to break off the engagement with him first, then maintain an appropriate relationship as an imprinted partner.
But for some reason, Aksion seemed to have even more in mind than that.
So why on earth……………?
Evelyn, who had come to the Imperial Library to return a book, stared blankly at a familiar back of the head.
It wasn’t easy to just pass by the man who had been standing still in one place for quite some time.
After hesitating, she approached the bookshelf where he was standing.
“Ahem. Your Grace the Duke, have you been well?”
When Evelyn announced her presence with a small cough, Kalid turned around and greeted her warmly.
“It’s been a while, Miss.”
She replied with a calm smile and soon looked at the paper in his hand.
The paper had a call number written on it indicating the book’s location.
“Were you perhaps looking for a book?”
At that question, the man, who had been rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, answered in a low voice.
“I’m still not used to it, so it seems difficult to find.”
Since the call number system had been introduced to the library not long ago, Evelyn often helped lost visitors.
“If you don’t mind, may I find it for you instead?”
“You would do so personally, Miss?”
To Kalid, who made a surprised expression, she smiled brightly.
“I’m quite confident in finding things.”
Moreover, she had been taught by her parents to help those in difficult situations,
