Chapter 18
**Line 1:** CHAPTER 19: The Reluctant Taste of Affection
**Line 2 onwards:**
Noah continued to mutter under his breath, his tone laced with clear dissatisfaction. Adeline felt a pang of discomfort in her chest, yet she was a woman of rather firm resolve. If something was not to her liking, she would not endure it. She let out a small sigh.
“I hope you do not look at me so lightly, Noah.”
“…….”
“I am familiar with the way I have lived and the environment around me. Kissing someone with whom I have not even married or fallen in love is a little difficult. I hope you understand that, Noah.”
Adeline spoke her mind with genuine conviction. Noah was stunned. It was nothing more than brushing lips together and perhaps mixing saliva. If she had insisted on having sex, he would have fainted.
However, pressing her any further might have sent her fleeing. Of course, before a few days ago he had hoped for nothing else. But now the situation had changed.
Noah gently cupped Adeline’s cheek. Since he did not touch her lips, she allowed his hand to linger. The skin felt slightly warm and stiff from the rising heat.
It was not completely ineffective.
Perhaps because he had shown her the performance, Adeline could not meet his eyes directly and averted her gaze. Her lowered lashes trembled, and her hands resting on her knees turned deathly pale.
“Y-yes. I will respect that wish.”
Yes. Slowly, step by step.
Adeline, who had been cautious and deliberate like this, had already awakened Noah’s curiosity about the exact flavor she would offer.
***
Adeline proved far more conservative than expected.
Honestly, Noah had known Adeline held some affection for him. He understood it was not love—only possession. Perhaps she simply had him by her side because he was a man of her station, because he met her expectations.
“You are nothing more than… well, a decoration. I brought you because you look nice, but you are actually useless and a decorative item that, once time passes, I will forget even existed.”
In truth, the words Noah had spoken to Adeline were no different from those he would utter to her—Adeline Miller, a decoration suited to his taste.
Still, he wondered if perhaps kissing a decoration was not entirely impossible. After all, Adeline was a woman, and every human being was driven by the instinct to reproduce.
“Whoa. What nun is this?”
Adeline, who had shattered his expectation, was an unpredictable variable. That variable was irritating his nerves.
‘Well, soon she will be begging me to enter her. After all, the day she walks on her own two feet isn’t far off.’
Adeline had no idea how the more she resisted, the fiercer his obsession became.
Once she had turned her back and walked away, Noah realized how far her room actually was. What should he do? After thinking hard, he summoned Albert and spread a meaningful word.
“My condition has worsened further. He says he is suffering every night.”
Albert did as instructed. Noah waited for Adeline to rush over at once.
And now, in the dead of night.
Tap. Tap.
Noah finally pricked up his ears at the sound of shoe heels. Having done everything he could to be with a woman once and feeling a wave of self-reproach, he could no longer back down.
Let’s see just how long you can keep denying me.
The pride of a man who had never once been rejected was crushed. If he let this slide, he was no longer Noah Miller.
‘Why isn’t she coming?’
The footsteps had stopped, as though she had paused right in front of the door. Yet she neither knocked nor opened it. For a long time there was no movement.
Desperate, Noah was about to rise from the bed when—
Tap…
The footsteps began to fade. Noah’s brows twitched in irritation.
‘She came all the way to the door and then just left?’
If he let her go now, the chance might never come again. The unfamiliar restlessness clouded Noah’s reason.
Noah parted his lips.
“Ugh!”
A pained scream pierced the door. Adeline’s foot had stopped as she turned to leave.
Did she mishear? When she glanced back at the door, the heavy panting and moaning came again.
“Ugh…!”
What kind of scream was that?
Adeline hurriedly turned the doorknob. The door was not locked. As if welcoming her, it opened at once. Yet Adeline felt no unease.
It was because Noah lay on the bed clutching his chest, mouth agape, gasping for breath.
“Noah!”
Adeline rushed inside.
Noah’s face was flushed, drenched in cold sweat, gasping. It seemed he was on the verge of losing consciousness.
What, what should I do?
His mind went completely blank, unable even to think of calling for help.
“N-Noah. Are you all right?”
Adeline hurriedly grabbed his cheeks. Such a seizure was the first she had ever witnessed. Her mind spun, her body trembling with terror.
“Ugh, hic, haaah…!”
“Why, why is this happening…! Breathe, breathe…!”
The man choking for air was Noah, yet Adeline felt her own throat closing.
‘Mind. Calm down. Only I can calm him down!’
Adeline, barely regaining her senses, calmly unbuttoned Noah’s shirt. She had decided to first loosen the buttons at his neck for comfort. Then she touched his cheek with the back of her hand.
It was bitterly cold.
It was strange for a body suffering from high fever to feel cold. Adeline held her breath. A terrifying memory surfaced.
“Hal, halmeoni! Halmeoni! Stay awake!”
The day she sent her grandmother off. The body of a person leaving this world grew cold and rigid. No matter how tightly she held the hand, the grandmother’s fingers had still curled. That touch had lingered vividly on the tips of her fingers.
Adeline panted. Before long she was trapped inside that horrific memory.
“……No.”
She could not send him away. Looking at Noah, whose deathly aura already filled the room, a decision formed.
She had to save him. By any means, she would do her best.
Adeline hurriedly covered Noah’s nose and opened his mouth. While blowing air in, she kept praying in her heart. Please, please, please…
Feverishly blowing air, Adeline suddenly felt Noah’s hand grasp hers.
Noah’s breathing had stabilized somewhat. When she removed the hand covering his nose, she pressed her lips to his.
“Haa, ha…”
Adeline exhaled heavily and checked on Noah.
“Noah, are you all right? Are you conscious?”
“Ugh, Adeline…?”
“Yes. Yes. It’s me. Do you recognize me?”
Noah nodded while holding her hand. His face was pale, lacking color. His eyes burned with tears as he looked at her. Adeline bit her lip to hold back, and Noah hiccupped.
“I, I can’t breathe…”
“Can’t breathe? Again?”
“Ra, re, ugh…”
Noah’s words were cut off, but Adeline knew what to do.
She pressed her lips to his again. She felt nothing of the touch or temperature.
She fit her lips perfectly into his open mouth and blew air in. Noah’s chest seemed to calm, then suddenly something soft and wet invaded his mouth.
‘What, what is this?’
A hot, slick thing rubbed against her tongue.
“Eek…!”
Too sudden; her brain could not process it. Her body stiffened, and when she remained still, the slick sensation moved even more deliberately. It swept slowly across the moist interior, lingering on the bumpy palate.
“Hic…!”
Chills ran down her spine, her shoulders rising involuntarily. Adeline realized belatedly that it was Noah’s tongue.
So she was mixing tongues with him.
Her heart felt like it would burst. The sound of it pounding inside her skull made her dizzy. An odd sensation washed over every cell in her body.
“Wai, wait…!”
Countless questions flooded her mind. Why? How? Now? But she could not soothe them while leaving the lewd tongue inside. Just as Adeline tried to pull away, Noah grabbed the back of her head and yanked her closer.
“Eek…!”
Their lips collided abruptly. His grip was firm, holding her in place. She stared at him with wide eyes. She saw Noah’s cheeks hollow as he pushed his tongue inside and quickly closed her eyes.
‘W-what should I do…?’
Her mind went blank. Every time her breath caught and her sensitive skin touched, sparks shot down her spine.
The strange sensation was frightening, yet it felt good. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Uhn…”
Adeline, who had pushed Noah down and was gripping his shoulder, felt her strength slowly leave her hands.
Since she had entrusted her body to the kiss, she was honest about it and found it oddly cute to remain stone-still. Noah could not help but let out a quiet chuckle.
Adeline, snapping back to her senses, hurriedly pulled away. Using all her strength, she shoved him off, and Noah had no choice but to let her go.
“Haa, haa…”
Adeline looked even more winded than during artificial respiration. Clutching her chest as though it would burst, she stared at Noah in horror. As if belatedly protesting, “What are you doing?”
“Because you can’t breathe… I had no choice.”