Even Death Was Taken Away by That Obsession - Chapter 24

The hand that grabbed me calmly pulled my body toward them.

A place that shouldn’t hurt felt painful.

‘Of all places, where I was brutally torn at the temple last night.’

I lost control of my body faster than my mind could comprehend what was happening.

Then I immediately met eyes with the one who pulled me.

They were those red eyes that had been far away just moments ago, eyes that looked as if they could burn and melt even winter itself.

“Where are you rushing to, my friend’s fiancée?”

Those were the words spoken by Duke Dekiel Viente.

I thought he couldn’t have seen me, and even if he had, there was no reason to chase after me.

His chilling attitude gave no clue as to why he had grabbed me.

I swallowed dryly against my will.

I felt like captured prey.

“You seem quite hurried.”

Dekiel showed a completely different, cold attitude from when we met with Ian.

This seemed more like the duke’s true nature.

“As if you were running away from someone.”

No, this wasn’t just a cold attitude – it was closer to chilling hatred.

He clearly resented me, barely containing his desire to kill me, and instead remained calm, his heart turned ice-cold from being too red-hot.

“Why do you think I saved you?”

“Perhaps it would have been better for Ian if I hadn’t saved you.”

“Though I doubt someone of such shallow worth would lose their life.”

My arm in his grip hurt as if it might break.

Those red eyes, cold as the ocean harboring undisguised hatred, hurt unbearably.

If left alone, his face suggested he might twist and tear off my neck right there.

Or perhaps he would push me to be crushed under a carriage.

‘Why is he acting like this toward me?’

Duke Viente’s face was so cold it made Dantea and Bonnie’s praises seem wasteful.

‘Ah, could his real purpose be to kill me?’

My body was precariously positioned on the edge of the street as if he might push me at any moment.

“Um, Duke Viente.”

While trying to hide my already irregular heartbeat, I spoke calmly.

“I don’t know what this is about, but would you please let go?”

Despite my weak protest, Dekiel’s grip on my arm only tightened further, as if threatening to crush it.

Then he added incomprehensible words.

“Why are you so irritating?”

“…Your Grace?”

“Isn’t it strange? You’re just my friend’s fiancée.”

Just that and nothing more.

“Yet I can’t understand why I despise you every time I see you.”

His low tone seemed more like self-reflection than words meant for me.

Eventually, the duke suppressed the anger that had filled his eyes beneath a gentleman’s smile.

Then, wearing the mask of a gentle young noble, he straightened my body.

“Pardon me. You looked in danger.”

If only his excuse of grabbing me because I looked unstable had been the end of it.

Dekiel changed the position of the hand that had grabbed me and extended it.

It was a gesture offering escort.

“Shall we?”

“Pardon?”

“As it happens, we share the same destination.”

Dekiel precisely indicated the mint-colored muffin shop’s sign. Then he gave me a look as if to ask why I wasn’t taking his hand already.

He appeared the perfect gentleman, as if his words about finding me irritating and detestable had been lies.

I thought that if I were a regular young lady living my first life, I might have been completely fooled.

“Ian made a request. He asked me to take special care of his fiancée whenever possible.”

Dekiel urged my hesitation by even bringing up Ian.

Having missed the timing to come up with a proper excuse, I wordlessly placed my hand in his.

Where our temperatures met, my skin stung as if paper-cut.

Though the escort was brief since the muffin shop was right in front of us, it was enough to make me nauseous.

Since when were he and I on such casual terms to go buy muffins together?

Regardless of my confused thoughts, the entrance bell rang deceptively cheerfully with a ting-a-ling.

I immediately separated myself from him and moved forward after a slight bow.

Though I meant to focus on our respective business, Dekiel’s steps strangely lingered around me.

In the not particularly spacious shop, I deliberately ignored him while on edge.

That lasted only a few seconds. Suddenly, a low voice pierced my ears.

“Aren’t you getting something for Ian?”

Dekiel closed the distance like an affectionate lover and slightly bent his waist to match my height.

“A gift? What do you mean?”

“The muffins?”

His response came with a look that treated me like a dim person, as if coming to a muffin shop made it obvious.

“Ian would enjoy this flavor.”

His large hand pointed to the lighter-colored muffins on display.

Thanks to this, we must have looked quite intimate.

For some reason, feeling uncomfortable with that, I deliberately moved to maintain minimal distance.

“You seem to know his tastes well.”

“We go way back.”

“……”

“Though, I suppose you might wonder how much better I know him than his rumored fiancée.”

The duke gently grasped a strand of my hair.

The silver strand helplessly fell from his grasp, and I couldn’t refuse any of it.

Strangely, I didn’t feel like resisting.

“Perhaps that’s why. I was quite hurt that Ian kept your existence a secret even from me.”

Dekiel dismissed the hostility he had shown me as simple behavior stemming from disappointment in Ian.

Though I didn’t think this duke was such a shallow person, I played along even while knowing it was a lie.

“You must care for him greatly.”

“More than you might think.”

“…That’s fortunate.”

“Perhaps that’s why I said such unpleasant things to you.”

Is he suddenly admitting his fault now?

I couldn’t easily fathom Duke Viente’s intentions.

Could he be wanting to apologize?

Yet it wasn’t easy to simply say ‘it’s fine’ and change the atmosphere, given how murderously cold his gaze had been not just in the past, but mere minutes ago.

“Ian is quite an interesting friend. Just when you think he’s docile, he surprises people like the Grand Duke’s son that he is, and this time too, I was quite surprised.”

“About the sudden announcement of engagement?”

“That too, but.”

Dekiel suddenly closed the distance I had carefully maintained.

Then he spoke words as harsh as hell itself.

“I wondered where he managed to find a woman who makes me want to kill her so badly.”

After barely setting down my tray at those heart-piercing words, I turned to look at Dekiel.

His languid eyes, now much closer, were as sweet as if coated in honey.

They were too beautiful for someone speaking of wanting to kill.

It was the kind of expression one might make when seducing someone, like admiring a lovely blooming flower.

Not the face one would expect when openly expressing hostility about wanting to kill someone.

‘What are you plotting?’

Despite my confusion, I couldn’t take my eyes off Dekiel.

Somehow it felt like a loss to avoid those red eyes full of gentle affection.

I had the dangerous thought that it might be nice to take in that handsome face a bit longer.

When this thought occurred to me, I quickly turned away, frightened by how naturally I had been drawn to him.

‘Letting my guard down unconsciously. Have I really gone mad?’

Just as I was scolding myself, a clear bell rang. It was the sound of the shop door opening and closing.

Dekiel gently placed his hand on my shoulder after checking who had just entered the shop behind me.

His hand affectionately resting on my shoulder was troublesome.

But only after meeting eyes with the customer who had just entered did I understand the actions he had carefully built up.

“Haine?”

The gentleman who called my name was my fiancé Ian.

His clear eyes moved very slowly toward Dekiel’s hand on my shoulder.

Seeing that movement clearly made everything go dark before my eyes.

“Ian…?”

My lips trembled. Somehow, it felt like being caught in the middle of an affair.

Even though that wasn’t the case at all.

Dekiel pretended to be surprised at being caught, clearly intentionally, before removing his hand from my shoulder.

“Ah, you seemed to stumble for a moment.”

The words meant to sound like an excuse and the following elegant smile.

Those red eyes eagerly awaited both my and Ian’s reactions.

Everything about him seemed satisfied, as if achieving his goal of putting me in a difficult situation.

‘Ah, you really do hate me.’

And I wasn’t nice enough to let someone who opposed m