Chapter 21
Poisoning Plan(11)
“I packed the lunch so I could eat it together with you, Duke.”
“I see.”
“I really did.”
“Alright.”
Edith pressed her lips together again.
Grayson wanted to watch her flustered expression a little longer, but the gaze of the old woman, peeking out from the hut and watching them, bothered him.
“Shall we head back now?”
They started walking back along the path they had come from.
Edith worried that Grayson might pry further, but fortunately, he showed no more interest than that.
‘I should prepare the medicine in advance. Will I even have time to take it on the wedding day? I can’t take it too early, or the effect might wear off… I’ll need to get a small bottle, keep it with me, and find a chance to take it right before the ceremony.’
There were still two months left, but to Edith, that time felt short.
It was uncertain whether the ‘Plarin poison neutralization method’
Edward had told her about would actually work.
Part of her wanted to pretend it was an accident and drop the poisoned glass, avoiding drinking the poison altogether.
‘But something like that won’t stop the Marquis of Reynolds from trying to kill me.’
Becoming a duchess wouldn’t completely block Wyatt’s murderous intent.
Wyatt would find a way to kill Edith no matter what.
‘I need to make the marquis lie low for a while. At least until I’ve secured a position where my safety is guaranteed.’
Lost in thought as she walked, she failed to notice the grass tangled on the ground.
“Ah!”
As Edith stumbled after catching her foot in the grass, Grayson lightly grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
Unable to regain her balance, she fell straight into his arms.
Grayson wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her firmly so she wouldn’t slip.
Caught in his embrace at such an unexpected moment, Edith didn’t immediately understand what had happened.
Only after feeling the arm around her waist tighten did she realize she was completely in his arms, and she lifted her head.
The moment she did, her eyes met Grayson’s as he looked down at her.
Eyes as blue and clear as the sky on a bright day pulled Edith from an as-yet-unrealized future back into the present.
The arm tightening around her waist, his chest pressed against her—everything felt frighteningly vivid.
The scent of trees, earth, and grass surrounding them mixed with his own.
The moment felt unreal to Edith, and all she could do was blink her wide eyes.
Then, his lips parted.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah… y-yes. I’m sorry.”
“You should be thanking me, Miss Edith.”
“Pardon?”
“In moments like this, you don’t say sorry. You say thank you.”
“Ah, yes.”
Was that really so important?
Though puzzled, Edith obediently followed his words.
“Thank you, Duke.”
“Not at all.”
Even as they spoke, the arm wrapped around her waist did not loosen.
Edith found herself torn between wanting to step out of his embrace and wanting to remain held like this.
Since her mother’s passing, this was the first time she had been held in someone else’s arms.
Unlike her mother’s, his chest was firm and broad—but warm.
She wondered what kind of expression he would make if, as she once did with her mother whenever something upset her, she buried her face into his chest.
‘He’d be horrified. Would he recoil, calling me vulgar?’
Though she was to marry him, they were not lovers.
Couples bound by political marriages lived with courtesy and maintained a proper distance.
Edith and Grayson were no different—nothing more than that.
But the warmth she felt after so long was comforting, and Edith did not push him away.
Knowing he would release her if she merely adjusted herself slightly, she instead remained still, looking up at him and staying in his arms.
She had planned to pull away without complaint if he pushed her off, but for reasons unknown, Grayson also did not loosen his hold.
Holding Edith with one arm, gripping her arm with the other, he silently looked down at her.
Unable to endure his gaze any longer, Edith forced herself to speak.
“Is there something on my face?”
“I was thinking that your eyes are quite beautiful.”
Not expecting to hear such praise from him, Edith parted her lips and found herself unable to say anything.
Grayson quietly studied her for a moment longer, then released her arm and lifted his hand, gently brushing Edith’s forehead.
“It feels like two suns are rising.”
The hand that had been brushing her forehead slowly moved down and stopped at Edith’s cheek.
The sensation of his large hand cupping her face was chillingly pleasant.
“I think it’s about time we shared a kiss.”
Only after hearing his whisper did she recall what he had said on their first date.
‘The next time we meet, we’ll hold hands, and around the fourth meeting, we’ll share a light kiss.’
The moment she remembered those words, the heat that had filled her chest cooled abruptly.
‘Ah, right. He had a plan.’
This might have been their fifth date, but since he had said ‘around’ the fourth meeting, there was no disruption to his plan.
Watching his face draw closer to fulfill that intention, Edith obediently closed her eyes.
At the same time she felt warmth at the tip of her nose, something warm overlapped her lips.
His warm, soft lips gently pressed against hers before pulling away.
Before she could even think, ‘Is it over now?’ his lips touched hers once again.
The second touch was more thrilling than the first, and Edith clenched her fist without realizing it.
This time, his lips didn’t part right away.
When he opened his lips slightly and gently captured Edith’s lower lip, she felt as though she might faint.
‘What is this?’
Edith didn’t know much about kissing.
She had thought it was simply the act of touching lips and pulling away.
That was why, the moment her lower lip was taken between his, she was so startled she nearly stopped breathing.
Heat surged back into her heart.
Clenching her fist tightly, Edith kept swallowing down something that threatened to spill out.
His tongue softly traced her lips.
Each tender touch sent a sweet shiver through her, like an electric current.
When the tongue that had been trying to slip between her parted lips hesitated, Edith sucked in a breath.
The breath she exhaled was swallowed by him entirely.
Embarrassed, she hunched her shoulders—and that was when his lips finally pulled away.
But he didn’t move far.
He rested his forehead against Edith’s and stayed still for a while before slowly drawing back.
Then, brushing Edith’s lower lip lightly with his thumb, he asked with a faint smile,
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. It was… nice.”
As if that wasn’t the intention behind his question, his eyes widened slightly before he smiled more deeply and said,
“I see. That’s a relief.”
“And you, Duke?”
This time, he seemed not to have expected the question to be returned.
He paused, faintly furrowed his brow, then met Edith’s eyes and replied,
“It wasn’t bad.”
Not bad.
Edith couldn’t tell how she was supposed to interpret that answer.
‘Does that mean it wasn’t the worst? Should I have answered like that too? Was saying it was nice too vulgar for a first kiss?’
As countless thoughts swirled through her mind, he spoke again.
“Shall we head back now?”
***
After dropping Edith off in front of the Marquis of Reynolds’s estate and heading back, Grayson sank deep into thought.
So lost was he that he didn’t even realize he was unconsciously rubbing his lips.
‘A kiss…’
In order to appear like an ordinary couple, he had set a timeline for holding hands and for kissing.
Holding hands had been fine, but kissing was another matter entirely.
The act of pressing one’s lips against another’s and exchanging saliva—what was so appealing about such a filthy thing?
Grayson couldn’t understand it.
Because he couldn’t understand it, he found it hard to make up his mind, and even on their fourth date, he had only thought about it without acting.
But today—
the moment he caught her as she was about to fall,
the moment he saw her eyes, shining gold in the sunlight,
the moment his gaze landed on her slightly parted, full lips.
Her lips had looked so lush and sweet that he had impulsively kissed her.
He had planned to simply touch lips and pull away, but the warmth where their lips met and the intoxicating scent tickling his nose were far too dense.
Her tense, endearingly stiff reaction made him unable to stop.
If he hadn’t realized she wasn’t breathing, he might have parted her lips and plunged in, losing himself in the act.
Grayson realized that his index finger was tapping lightly against his own lips, and he irritably swept his hair back.
‘This isn’t going according to plan.’
