Be Fascinated - Chapter 31

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 31

It was just that. Claude laughed out loud in incredulity. Come to think of it, the reason he didn’t focus on that prayer was because of that woman.

“Her name… It’s Philia.”

Even though he thought she was no fun, that she was boring, he kept looking at her. Claude’s gaze relentlessly focused on her. It didn’t matter if it was the gaze of a vicious beast that prowled on its prey, or the gaze of a sly hunter who was aiming for a beast to capture.

This moment awakened his interest. Claude was willing to move for Philia.

Claude obsessively observed Philia whenever he met her. The almost colorless blonde hair became darker at the roots. Her eyes were always down and there was a soft smile on her lips.

That’s not it, hurry up, smile more.

Should he give her more gifts? Claude thought, but he knew the gift was useless when the High Priest thanked him.

That woman touched it for a moment and gave it to the High Priest to return it to the Crown Prince.

He tried to talk to her, but he had no excuse for a conversation with her. Rather, Philia avoided it when men spoke to her.

His reddish-brown eyes turned to the men who stared at Philia tenaciously.

They disguised their desire with honorable devotion and loyalty towards the saint, but it was clear to him that those gazes were stained with dirt.

That woman must have already been assaulted by them in their mind’s eye again and again.

Claude didn’t think of her in that way. It was just interesting to see the little differences she showed. He wanted to see her smiling brightly with jewelry once again. After drinking a few drops of water in the arid desert, he felt a strange thirst, as if languishing to drink more.

Then one day—

Claude went looking for Philia as usual. Philia avoided him, feeling uncomfortable. It was as if she had noticed his gaze. So he became even more anxious.

He wanted to talk even one more time. He wanted to make eye contact one more time.

Ah, why is that woman a saint? If it hadn’t been for that, he would have grabbed her right away and kept her by his side.

Claude, who was chewing on his lips, heard a familiar sound. It was the sound his own father made whenever he was sleeping with a whore. Of course, his mother also made such a noise when sleeping with a different nobleman.

It wasn’t surprising to see someone else’s love affair. But he wasn’t happy either. Claude watched them indifferently as they mixed their bodies. Thinking that he would cut off their neck later.

But, with his eyes wide open, he found Philia, who looked at it and was helpless, and the thought disappeared. She was so startled that she couldn’t do anything.

In the meantime, he felt happy and approached Philia. Those big eyes were filled with a great sin that she clearly had never even thought of before.

With her expression of not knowing what to do, Claude felt euphoric again as he saw this. When he nearly caught her, he reached out his hand, covered her mouth, and pulled her into his arms.

“Shh, be quiet.”

Claude whispered in her ear. The golden hair lightly touched the tip of his nose, smelling like flowers. Aside from her modest appearance, the scent that reached his nose was very mesmerizingly fragrant.

Enchanted by the scent, he felt her breath in the palm of his hand. With a small, hot breath tickling his fingers, he pressed his hand to her lips as if to be quiet. The feeling was soft.

Claude thought of kissing these lips. He was thrilled to think of kissing her like those people did while smelling this dizzying scent.

Even though it was a scene he thought was disgusting, the thought of him being with this woman made his whole body tingle. What kind of face would she make while she was writhing with pleasure? Would she shed tears? It would be more fun than the surprised expression she was making now. The tears she shed will be sweeter than anything.

Claude found that he had some pretty perverted and sadistic thoughts. Claude succumbed to the urge as he felt her warm skin on his chest.

What is this. He wanted to lick those red ears with his tongue, and he wanted to touch her peach-white cheeks. What kind of sound would she make if he bit that elegant neck? What face would she make?

Just thinking about it made him ecstatic. Is this some kind of craving? The sensations all over his body went numb. The two men and women who had been having an affair while tangled disappeared, and they were able to face each other.

“You must have been very surprised.”

“…….”

“It’s okay.”

What do you mean okay? He spoke the lie naturally and greedily glanced at Philia’s face. He wanted to meet her eyes, raising the chin of her slightly lowered face.

He wanted to see her face over and over again. Always.

“I am…”

What will come out of her mouth? He’s never been nervous since he was born, but what that woman said made his nerves stand up.

“Thank you.”

Still, there was fear on her face. But something in those eyes… As Claude looked at her as if possessed, she wriggled out of his grasp and ran away. It was as if she had noticed an insidious desire.

Claude stared at her back as if possessed. He became aware of the intense desire he had within himself for the first time.

“Those eyes… those eyes.”

Claude kept muttering the word. Claude had only discovered the dark, blatant, bizarre desires that had appeared on her face.

What would happen if those eyes became cloudy with desire? What would happen if she collapsed calling his name? What kind of expression would she make if he bit that tender skin?

As if burning desire, as if burning everything, it became a huge fire that engulfed him. Claude didn’t bother putting it down. Because the fire was so enchanting.

Claude wet his dry lips with his tongue. He soon realized. He was already attracted to that colorless, uninteresting woman.

Claude saw that guy in front of him. He felt the gaze staring at him indifferently. Carlos. He was the new Emperor who ascended to the throne Claude had conceded. His younger brother.

Carlos resembled Claude, but he was a charming man with a different aura compared to Claude. If Claude was a handsome man with masculine angles, Carlos was a handsome man with delicate lines.

Gold eyes with big and cool features, a beautiful nose bridge, and thick red lips. His appearance alone was alluring, he always had a happy smile, men and women alike were captivated by his face. That was the difference between Claude and Carlos.

“Are you leaving early again today, Brother?”

At Carlos’s words, Claude put down his teacup.

“Your Majesty, do you want me to stay longer?”

Claude looked at his brother’s face and turned his gaze to the woman sitting next to him. The woman with brown hair in a braid smiled at Claude. She was the empress and his brother’s wife, Amelia.

Her earrings shone unusually blue. Claude looked at it.

“I thought you’d want to be alone with Her Majesty the Empress right away.”

It was a strangely twisted tone. Realizing this, Carlos smiled and said.

“I didn’t mean to say that I was sorry that Brother went. Did that sound like that?”

Twisted words were rewarded with equally twisted words. That was the case with the brothers.

However, seeing Carlos’s sharp retaliation, he felt Carlos’s change anew. No matter how desperately he lived, a beast’s cub was still a cub.

He who was raised whining and crying, quickly revealed his teeth. If it was in the past, Claude would not have forgiven it. Without hesitation, he trampled and grabbed his neck, announcing his superiority and would have struck him on the neck.

But now Claude was not very interested in such a hierarchy. What he wanted was already in his hands.

Then, Amelia took off the sapphire earrings that she was wearing and suddenly presented the earrings to Claude.

“Grand Duke Piast, here.”

“…….”

Amelia smiled when she saw his gaze asking what this was.

“Give it.”

It was a strange way of speaking that he recognized very well.

“Amelia.”

Carlos next to her said looking at her with a sad expression on his face. Amelia said with a smirk.

“You will buy more for me, right?”

“…….”

“You will.”

Seeing that face, Carlos avoided his gaze as if embarrassed for nothing. Amelia saw this and smiled. It was a stable relationship that was different from the precarious and depressed relationship he had seen before.

That continued to provoke Claude. Claude took the earrings and left without saying goodbye.

“Amelia, why do you care so much?”

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────