My Sweet Deceiver

Chapter 13

***

***

Tehez grabbed his face with both hands, raised her head and pressed her lips against his. His tepid lips were glad to be warmed by her temperature.

The sound of the rustling of leaves spread through the garden, where the sound of grass insects had ceased. Tehez opened her slightly closed eyes and looked at him.

Cheeks reddened with heat, wrinkles caught between the brows while concentrating, voluminous eyelashes and closed eyes. All of that ignited her excitement.

Tehez caressed his broad back and waist. 

As she lifted her head, the twinkling grace continued between the two, then broke. His shiny lips looked luscious.

Being held in Denis’ arms always gave her a familiar scent. 

The scent of his beloved cigar and the scent of the refreshing forest.

‘I want to have you.’

Tehez took a step away, lifted her skirt a little and looked at the red-tinted skirt. She felt his gaze on her from the tip of her skin. 

She was enveloped in a pleasant sense of exaltation.

The moonlight poured on her white legs.

Teherz clasped her skirt and smiled an alluring smile.

“I spilled wine, and it got dirty like this. It’s late at night, so all are asleep. What do I do? Prince, will you wash me?”

“…Yes.”

Tehez held Denis’ hand and pulled him away.

She returned to her bedroom holding Denis’ hand and took off his shirt. As she ripped off his shirt with her desperate hands, some of the buttons fell to the floor and rolled on their own. Denis stopped her as she tried to pull down his pants.

“Tehez.”

He glanced at her legs with wine flowing. Before she knew it, the wine had dried up on her legs.

“Prince, does that matter now?”

“It’s important. It looks like you’re bleeding.”

Eventually, Denis led Tehez to the bathroom. 

He took off her dress in a heartbeat and dropped Tehez into the bathtub.

“Prince.”

Embarrassed and confused, Tehez hurriedly called for him.

She didn’t mean to do this. 

He found a bath brush hanging in the corner.

“Prince.”

“What kind of perfumed body wash do you use? This? Or this?”

Denis tilted his head in confusion as he looked at the two bottles.

“…The one on the left.”

Teherz pointed her finger at her favourite.

His concentration was not as precarious as it was a while ago.

She’d be glad if it was a relief, but the atmosphere seemed to be ruined.

He opened the bottle’s lid and poured it all over the tub. The smell of roses, which was darker than usual, spread to the bathroom, perhaps due to the wrong amount of usage.

Tehez had a throbbing headache.

“…”

Denis sprayed warm water over her legs.

Then he began to gently rub the dried wine with a bath brush. 

“How are you? Does it hurt?”

“I’m okay.”

“Tell me if you are sick.”

He wiped her legs with a soft touch. In the damp bathroom, Denis was sweating and washing her. Perhaps because he was immersed in the bath, Denis’ forehead was wrinkled, and sweatdrops were rising from his forehead.

Tehez pulled up her mouth and smiled silently. Either way, if he felt better, it was a relief for her.

Tehez raised her submerged hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

As Tehez’s hand touched his forehead, Dennis, who was concentrating on her legs, looked up. At that moment, Denis and Tehez’s eyes met head-on.

Denis raised one corner of his mouth and laughed playfully. Like a bad boy planning a prank.

Denis put down her brush and began to touch her leg with a smooth touch.

His hand reached her thigh, which had no wine on it.

Ah.

Tehez’s heart beat fast.

Clearly, it was not an act of washing.

Denis’ eyes were those that wanted to tarnish her.

***

The door squeaked open and closed at dawn, and she heard someone’s footsteps moving away. 

Tehez woke up and found the bed empty, as expected.

She swept the cold seat with her hands.

‘You left.’

He never waited for her to wake up.

It could have been a consideration of its own to rest in peace. But Tehez’s idea was different. She thought he felt guilty about having breakfast with her in the same bed.

The night just a few hours ago was like an old dream.

‘If I wasn’t Ingeliger, would we be different?’

She even imagined such a hopeless situation.

Anything could have been done in a night when the boundaries were unclear. On a night when everyone was asleep, he came to Tehez, hugged her, and made her cry in pleasure…

She can’t have both his day and night. 

That would be greed. 

Knowing that, her greed was growing without knowing the limit.

“Princess, did you wake up?”

There was a call for her outside the door.

“Yes, come in.”

It was time to get back to reality.

***

Matthieu Briem, Duke of Briem, was a cold-hearted and sensitive person.

It was thanks to his judgment that he made appropriate decisions whenever necessary and put the Duke on top of the rock. His biggest misjudgment was Queen Charlize.

In fact, opinions were divided on the matter. Half of the respondents said that Duke Briem was harsh, and half said his judgment was excellent.

To listen to those who positively evaluated the case, it was a story after all. He dethroned an ignorant and lowly Queen who was a commoner and had not been adequately educated, and in addition, he appointed the daughter of the Duke of Briem as the Queen and established the foundation of the country.

However, the arguments of the opposing camp fiercely refuted the view. The main assertions were that the process of dethroning Queen Charlize was unclear, that he took the life of the deceased and kept it for his children, and that he caused a conflict between the two Princes over the Crown Prince position.

However, it was difficult to argue right from wrong over what he had done at this point. It was because he was still a tax collector.

When he dethroned Queen Charlize, it was the Old Nobility who participated. Including the Duke of Briem, the Marquis of Ingeliger, the Counts of Liddell, the Count of Grimaldi, the Barons of Fland, etc. Even twenty years later, even with the emergence of new nobles, the old nobles did not lose their power and were firmly defending their domain.

At that time, the Duke of Briem and the Marquis of Ingeliger were well-matched companions. But their feud erupted at the time of the new Queen.

Matthieu tried to put his daughter on the throne, and the Marquis of Ingeliger tried to put his sister on the throne. The result was a victory for the Duke of Briem. From then on, the two went on as if they were enemies.

Such a broken alliance never retook hold. Because the Marquis of Ingeliger had pushed his daughter into Denis, Matthieu’s enemy side. Denis was, in a way, a great man. But it was like putting his daughter in the middle of the enemy camp.

Matthieu Briem was now old. All his glory and slander were a thing of the past. His judgment, which was like a sharp knife, often faded, and his memories came and went. He kept forgetting things. The atrocities of Fabrice, which would have been severely reprimanded in the past, continued to pass. 

So was this case.

When Fabrice’s incident floated in the capital, Matthieu found the child who was self-reflecting.

He seemed to be reflecting on himself a lot as he sat down feeling weak.

“Prince, you have to be careful in your actions from now on.”

Fabrice grunted and answered.

“Okay. I was just hanging out with Xavier. You know very well.”

“Yes. It must be because the Prince resembles Marianne, and you’re so kind that you can’t throw out bad friends.”

“That’s right, Grandpa. I made it clear that I didn’t want to go.”

Saying so, Fabrice took Matthieu’s wrinkled hand.

Fabrice called Matthieu his maternal grandfather, not the Duke, whenever he was in trouble. 

Fabrice knew that Matthieu was weak against his pitiful expression. In the eyes of Duke Briem, who looked up, the strictness that tried to punish him disappeared, and was filled with only affection.

“I will surely put our Prince on the throne. By Matthieu Briem.”

“Really? I just have to stay still, right?”

“Of course. Just trust me, My Prince Fabrice.”

Matthieu said so and patted Fabrice on the shoulder. The sullen look did not suit his grandson. Looking at Fabrice smiling broadly, his daughter Marianne’s face overlapped at first glance.

His daughter, who died a week after Julien’s birth.

Alone without a mother, his eldest grandson was both proud and pitiful, and the Duke did not get angry even if he took the commoners and killed them. And by his standards, commoners were no different from cattle or pigs. Animals that only complain about all day long.

Cattle and pigs provide them with labour and food, but they have no complaints. For that reason, Matthieu sometimes thought cattle and pigs were better than commoners.

“When we meet again, I will bring reinforcements to support the Prince.”

“Really? I’ll be looking forward to it, Grandfather.”

Fabrice smiled broadly and saw him off.

Matthieu stepped out of the palace with his cane. 

He had a dulled head. 

What would he like to put on Fabrice’s back? 

Even if this old man dies, the family must have the power to safely put Fabrice on the throne and protect him.

Matthieu, after careful consideration, interweaved the Lady Lemac nuptials with Fabrice.

Of course, it was him who selected the fiance, but the final decision was made by Elliot. The daughter of a new aristocratic family whom he had so much to hate. It was only then that he realized that he was doing something that didn’t add up.

‘I’ve aged a lot.’

Matthieu gave a self-help laugh.

His face was full of wrinkles, reflected in the waving glass of wine.

Still, he had work to do. 

It will probably be the last achievement of his life. 

Raising Fabrice to the throne.

He will not be able to close his eyes until the task is completed.

Matthieu drank the liquid from the glass. 

It was still too early to lie down in the coffin.

(To be continued in the next episode)