Chapter 133 – It Troubles Me When You Look at Me Like That

Resting her chin in both hands, Evelyn’s gaze drifted upward, and suddenly the night sky reflected on the lake filled her vision. As she gazed at the brilliant cluster of stars shimmering above the still waters, her eyes sparkled as though lit by starlight themselves.

“How beautiful…”

She tilted her head back, enraptured by the breathtaking view. Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept past, snatching away the wide-brimmed hat she wore.

“Oh, my hat!”

Startled, she hastily leaned back, trying to see where it had flown. In that instant, she wavered, her balance slipping as her body tilted precariously. She thought she would surely tumble into the water, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

“You should be more careful.”

Instead, she only realized she was now held in Axion’s broad embrace, as he had pulled her by the arm.

“….!”

With their bodies pressed so close, a strange tension lingered in the air between them. Evelyn’s face flushed hotly, her gaze darting about as though searching for escape.

When she slowly lifted her head, her long, dark eyelashes trembled faintly.

In the moonlight at his back, Axion’s eyes seemed to gleam with more amusement than usual. His lips curved into a refined smile before he spoke, his words drawn out and deliberate.

“It troubles me when you look at me like that.”

“What…?”

“It makes me want to devour you.”

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

After the long outing, Evelyn returned to the marquis’s estate and leaned against the balcony railing, letting the night breeze cool her cheeks.

Her heart still fluttered with restless unease from what had happened by the lakeside. She could hardly recall how she had even made it back. It was as though her soul had fled her body, and by the time she regained her senses, she was already standing in her room.

The memory of Axion kept resurfacing, and with it came a heat that burned across her face.

“What on earth was he thinking…”

The boy who had grown into manhood seemed more alluring with every passing day. At times, when their eyes happened to meet, a strange, intoxicating tension would linger between them. And unlike in their childhood, the stronger lines of Axion’s features now carried with them… a subtle, undeniable sensuality.

She had to admit that she was hopelessly weak when it came to a handsome face.

A strange flutter stirred near her heart, and she shook her head briskly.

‘Well, it’s true that he’s really good-looking.’

However, it wasn’t only Axion’s appearance that had ripened with time. The careless words he let slip were tinged with something tempting, almost disarmingly candid. And whenever a trace of sincerity seeped through that nonchalance, her heart grew all the more tangled.

It really seemed as though what he desired was marriage to me.

Cupping her cheeks in both hands, Evelyn murmured in a troubled voice.

“He really is such a difficult man.”

One way or another, it was certain that after the graduation ceremony, their relationship would be redefined. At the very least, she had no intention of continuing her engagement to Axion. From the moment she realized she had been reincarnated into the world of a novel, he had been excluded from the realm of her romantic prospects.

Of course, it wasn’t specifically because he was Axion Valentino.

“A marriage without love… it would be far too sad.”

Her view of marriage hadn’t changed. However, Axion seemed intent on tightening the taut string of their ambiguous relationship. With the original story’s course already diverging from the original, Evelyn no longer believed she would die by his hand.

Even so, she couldn’t quite picture a future with her fiancé.

“Marriage truly is such a heavy thing.”

All she could do was strive desperately not to cross the line drawn between them. With only one month left until the graduation ceremony, the day to put an end to their contract relationship was fast approaching.

The thought left her with a bittersweet pang.

Maybe she had, in spite of herself, grown fond of Axion.

Shutting her eyes tightly, she opened them again and steadied her heart before lifting her gaze to the night sky. It seemed unlikely she would fall asleep easily tonight.