Chapter 27: Desperate Need (19)

The morning sun blazed down the window.

Carlos, who had always relied on candles to see Ariel in the dark, was shocked by the close sight of her in broad daylight. Her glistening golden eyelashes held his gaze and wouldn’t let go. It was as if he saw otherworldly beauty, not something belonging to this world. Her golden hair came down surrounding her pale cheek and fluttering at the nape of her neck.

A momentary impulse to touch her cheek arose inside him.

But he couldn’t.

Leandro said he needed to keep her safe for three days when he wasn’t around, not ravish her.

“My chest aches,” Ariel replied, looking at his mysterious, deep ocean eyes. She could have answered that her wound hurt, but Ariel chose to say that her chest ached instead. She wanted to see with her own eyes how such a forward and direct choice of words affected Carlos.

It would be cruel for Carlow to let him know how tired her body was from Leandro’s rough ministrations, but Ariel hoped Carlos would be captivated by a strange imagination as he looked at her swelling breasts.

If Leandro was a daunting opponent whom she had to be wary of and had an overwhelming desire for her, Carlos was the opposite. He was a man who she could handle however she pleased.

“…What?” Carlos inquired, voice trembling at the end.

Carlos’ face quickly turned red when he remembered the image of Leandro burying his head in Ariel’s chest and greedily sucking her red nipples. Looking at his red-hot face, Ariel knew that her guess was correct.

“I can’t move. It stings,” she muttered, laying her hand on the strap of her dress fastened on her shoulder.

Carlos stared at her blankly. He soon realized what she was doing. He panicked.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

His poker face, which was always firmly closed to others, collapsed. He couldn’t stay calm and collected at the sight of Ariel’s beauty. She moved as if she was about to undress right there and then he hurriedly grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her hand away.

“…Lord Carlos, don’t you need me to show you where I’m in pain so you can treat it?”

Ariel’s cheeks were painted with a shy flush. It was a blush with a different nature from Carlos’ burning cheeks facing his beloved. She wanted to check the tremors she felt from his hands last night; she had expectations that Carlos, unlike Leandro, might treat her with a gentle touch.

Ariel’s life, which began after she was sucked into the book, was tiring. She couldn’t relax even for a single moment. On the one hand, she had to treat Leandro without letting her guard down, and on the other, her mind seemed to be drying up as she tried to withstand the nightly throes of passion. She needed warmth—a loving heart to embrace her instead of madness and obsession. Desperately.

Slide.

When she pulled the string, the cloth fell down powerlessly. Without giving Carlos any time to answer, Ariel untied the other shoulder strap. The dress, which slid down in a graceful curve, piled up at Ariel’s feet.

Huuk…

It happened in a flash. Ariel’s white nakedness was revealed before his very eyes. As Carlos raised his hand in a vague shape, Ariel gently grabbed it.

“The tremors of last night… was I the only one who felt it…?” asked Ariel.

How could he look so desperate and pathetic? Carlos opened his mouth and let out a lamenting sigh. The meek voice of the young Ariel touched the purity hidden in his heart.

“Ariel…”

Carlos clenched his teeth. He could give all his strength to Ariel if needed.

“…I need Lord Carlos right now.”

Ariel knew what he was hesitating for. Would he follow Leandro’s orders or her beckoning? He couldn’t pick one between the two, but she hoped Carlos would listen to the voice in his heart rather than the one rummaging in his head for once. It was a pity that he had always lived for others rather than for himself.

Ariel pulled Carlos’ hand to her chest. “Lord Carlos…”

If he wasn’t willing to make the first move, then she would. That was enough. Ariel approached Carlos and blew a sweet breath on his chest.

“No… we can’t…”

It was a word of refusal that had barely escaped his mouth. He clenched his teeth so hard that blood rose up to his forehead.

Ariel took another step closer to him. Her soft, pillowy breasts touched Carlos’ palms. Carlos, who was about to take his hand off in embarrassment, looked at Ariel.

‘Don’t reject me, accept me. Listen to the sound in your heart.’

Her innermost thoughts were being conveyed through her eyes.