The Narrowing of Noah's Path
Noah narrowed the distance he had created. The sound of his heel striking the floor was threatening. Without meaning to, Adeline's back collided with the door as she instinctively retreated. Before she could turn her head, his jaw was captured in his firm grip. His thumb brushed her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his.
“A woman who’s worried about a man shows up dressed like this?”
“Ah…….”
His breath, hot and close, washed over her. Her heart raced wildly. Adeline clenched her fist, slowly exhaling. His presence pressed in too closely. She bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Noah’s thumb gently stroked the tender flesh, tracing her lips.
“I’m not after anything else.”
“Something else……?”
“Like this?”
His lips, inches from her chin, hovered. Adeline gasped sharply, eyes squeezing shut. He charged forward but stopped just before their noses touched.
He had been misjudged. Pure intentions, twisted.
Adeline turned her head slightly. Noah’s breath brushed her pounding pulse.
“I…… I had a nightmare and woke up worried.”
“……”
“I came running without thinking.”
She was defenseless enough that a single bite would have sufficed. The way her shoulders trembled had been enough to convince him. Yet Noah gazed down at the trapped Adeline beneath him, expression unreadable.
“Because I’m a duke, I’m not even man enough?”
His jaw muscles tightened visibly.
“Not man enough?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
Noah lifted her chin. Adeline’s eyes met his squarely, no tremor in them whatsoever. The words landed like a slap.
It was inconceivable. He had never expected her to say he looked anything but male. His chest tightened painfully.
“Right. You would. I can’t see why any daughter of a viscount would appear female.”
“Ah…….”
Noah released her chin as if to correct the misunderstanding and turned to drop into the chair by the table. He flicked his gaze toward the clock on the wall. What time does this woman think it is? she came running here half-naked because she had a nightmare and was worried.
‘She truly isn’t in her right mind.’
“So you saw me—a man who’s nothing more than a patient. Satisfied?”
“If it’s all right, I’d like to check on the Miller Duke sleeping.”
“What?”
Noah’s eyebrows shot up. He had been planning to head straight to the Social Club. Now she wanted to check on someone sleeping?
“Well…… Is that necessary?”
He offered a gentle smile toward the troublesome woman.
“Now that I’ve confirmed I’m fine, you can lie down comfortably.”
“I’m still uneasy. I’ll only leave once I’m certain you’re asleep.”
Adeline approached with an anxious expression and settled onto the chair beside Noah’s bed.
Bed and woman.
And Noah, with his shameless lower body.
He ran a hand through his disheveled hair in irritation. She, who hadn’t even once tried to suppress his freedom, stared at him calmly.
“I won’t touch you even a single finger.”
Noah let out a short laugh. The firm look on her face made it clear she truly didn’t see him as male. Only someone who had never truly treated his crime as such could say something like that with a straight face.
Noah needed to continue the act. He drew a shallow breath and slowly approached the bed. The hem of her dress brushed his slippers.
Only then did her face show her surprise. Noah almost yanked the hem, but stopped himself.
Adeline had never seen him as male either. Noah lay back down with a strange feeling in his chest.
A moment later.
Snore—snore—
“She said she’d check after seeing me asleep.”
Noah peered at the peacefully sleeping Adeline sprawled across his bed through narrowed eyes. It felt almost unreal that she could sleep so deeply without a care.
He carefully removed the strand of hair that had fallen across her lips. He even brushed it from her round forehead in a thoughtless habit. Noah clicked his tongue inwardly.
He had fallen into the same instinct as when he used to charm women.
Of course, Adeline looked nothing like a woman to him, but biologically she was one. So his body had reacted on pure instinct.
“Mmm…… Noah……”
Her sleepy voice drifted softly.
“……”
His hand froze mid-stroke through her silver hair. The rhythmic breathing filled the quiet room.
Had she woken? Noah, who had been watching her with narrowed eyes, let out a slow breath.
Realizing he had almost let his actions slip, he coughed awkwardly and pulled his hand back.
This was etiquette. Any man would know it.
“Noah……”
Again.
The edge of her voice calling his name in her sleep was wet with emotion. It was a plea as much as a sigh, echoing clearly in his ears.
She called his name even while sleeping?
“What kind of dream could I possibly be in?”
What could be in Adeline’s dreams about him?
He watched her with narrowed, puzzled eyes. He couldn’t read her thoughts, but he was simply curious.
What kind of brain structure did this woman even have?
Noah placed his hand on his furrowed brow. His thumb rested against her soft skin. After a moment of hesitation, he gently rubbed her forehead with his thumb.
“Sob……”
Her eyelashes trembled, glistening with moisture, and a tear slipped down her temple.
“Don’t hurt…….”
Noah’s hand paused instantly. The voice, trembling even in sleep, was so heartbreaking that it made his heart ache.
“If it hurts…… I don’t want that……”
It sounded so genuine.
Noah’s face hardened. The sight of her crying in her sleep, worrying about him, wasn’t acting.
His heart stirred at the genuine emotions spilling from her defenseless state.
Why.
Why.
“Then don’t.”
The words escaped his lips, barely audible, lost in the air. Adeline, unconscious, could never have heard them.
“You shouldn’t have betrayed me.”
That night, Noah couldn’t sleep. He stared at Adeline’s face the entire long night.
* * *
Noah was buzzing with excitement the night before the engagement. The news had come from somewhere recent. It was said that Adeline had demanded the engagement with unprecedented force.
‘Do I really mean that much to her?’
Noah let out a short laugh. He wasn’t displeased.
Earlier, when Adeline had learned of his secret, it had been hard to stomach, but somehow manageable.
[Noah, are you all right?]
The day he confessed his secret, it had coincided with his mother’s day in the garden.
Usually pale and listless, she had looked alive that day, tending to the plants with renewed vigor.
Since childhood, Noah had only ever watched his mother’s back, but on this day he summoned his courage and grabbed the edge of her sleeve.
[Mother. Are you feeling well today?]
The Miller Duchess glanced up at her towering son. At fourteen, Noah was already exceptionally tall. Everyone admired his appearance, and when he smiled, they called it celestial beauty and worshipped it. The woman staring at her son’s smiling face felt only contempt.
[Disgusting.]
She spat the words without warning.
The Miller Duchess didn’t stop there. In a rage, she hurled her arm and knocked Noah’s hand away. She shook her sleeve as if something filthy had touched it and trembled violently. Her sharp eyes burned with hatred.
[Your face. You look far too much like your father.]
She seemed to see another person overlaid on Noah’s face. Noah had vaguely understood that his parents didn’t get along and that his mother hated his father.
From the moment he was born, she had never held him, but that didn’t make the hate he felt toward her any less painful.
[……Mother.]
[Don’t call me that!]
The Miller Duchess shook with fury and shoved her son’s shoulder. Thin as she was, the boy had a sturdy frame, yet Noah was shoved back by her pure emotion alone. Her hatred pushed him toward the edge of a cliff.
[If only you hadn’t been born.]
[……]
[If only you hadn’t been born! If I hadn’t given birth to you! Would I have died in this hellish house?]
[……]
[I wanted to travel freely. To laugh and wander with the people I met along the way. Not to live trapped and crushed like this!]
[……]
[It’s your father’s fault. If it weren’t for him, I might have given birth to someone like you. Why did you ruin my life. Why……!]