Obviously, It’s My Child

Then it was necessary to change his strategy.

‘Pretending not to know’ was not in Erich’s dictionary. The last five years and even the three  years before that were enough.

Claire didn’t say anything until she got into the carriage, still having the expression on her face that looked as if she was at peace. Erich escorted her into the carriage and got in after her. Then, he closed the door with his own hands.

“To the Innenhof Hotel.”

Erich said to the coachman, then turned his gaze back to Claire. She closed her mouth and cast her gaze out the dark window.

“Claire.”

“Ah, it really doesn’t suit my temperament.”

Right as soon as Erich called her, Claire spat out quickly. Then she sighed and looked straight at him.

“What’s your real relationship with Iris Schneider, really?”

She really thought she wouldn’t care. She really didn’t want to be pathetic about one or two exes.

How old was Erich anyway? Wouldn’t it be more strange if a man at his level never had a relationship before?

But regardless, it was human nature to not be able to look away from a situation that was right in front of her.

She would be upset if his old lover showed up now and started a fight with her, but what the hell was that dress about, really?

But Erich responded calmly, despite being bewildered by the sudden inquisition.

“House Klausener has been cordial with House Schneider since the time of our grandfathers. My father was especially fond of Iris when she was little.”

“Is that really all?”

“What more should there be?”

Erich asked sincerely. The relationship they had between them was just on the level of family acquaintances, so he often had the opportunity to see her face when he was young.

In the noble council, he was cordial with Countess Schneider, and at the social clubs, he was cordial with the household’s eldest son. However, that didn’t mean he was close to Iris.

If he had a wife or sister, the relationship between women would have continued through that side, but that’s not the case.

“I heard that the rumors are very widespread? If you get married, I heard that it’ll be a morganatic marriage, but you’re saying it’s just that kind of relationship?”

“Why would I lie about that?”

Claire didn’t believe his words. Erich himself was slowly getting frustrated as well.

“Then what about the dress?”

“What dress?”

“You know, the dress I wore back then. The one in your room.”

Erich suddenly closed his lips. Thanks to that, Claire felt the anger that had been suppressed until then with only slight annoyance surged up at once.

“I heard it belonged to Iris Schneider.”

“What?”

This wasn’t actually what they should be talking about right now. The matter at hand was supposed to be the Lotus Palace.

But now, she was fully in a fever, and there was no such thing as a cold rationality in her. She didn’t know what the empress was doing by using Iris, but whether it was for the Imperial Palace or the Opera House, it had nothing to do with Claire.

If it was House Klausener’s matter, it would just piss her off even more. Wasn’t it an obvious fact that Erich’s employee brought Iris’s dress to the woman in the bedroom, just as it was properly prepared?

“No way, maybe at that time, you were two-timing?! Nonsense. If I would have known that, I would never have, mmh—”

Before she could finish speaking, Erich leaned towards Claire. The carriage was so narrow that she couldn’t help but be conscious of his body.

Claire stopped breathing before their lips met. She should have been angry, but a small spark rose from the edge of her lips where Erich’s breath touched.

Victory or defeat was easily decided between those who hesitated and those who did not. Their lips met before Claire let out another indignant sound.

“Nngh.”

Deprived of the right timing to exhale, a subtle sound came from her throat.

Erich spread his fingers and put them through Claire’s hair. The back of her neat updo was undone.

Tak.

There was the sound of the wooden window leading to the coachman’s seat closing. Claire tried to bite his lip, but on the contrary, the result was that their lips became deeply interlocked.

Erich’s fingers slipped between her, lacing them together. Claire felt her toes curling up.

The place became hot. She shrank a little more. Erich’s knee crumpled her dress as showing that he was taking the place where she had retreated.

Thud.

Claire’s back hit the carriage door. Erich supported her slanted body.

Claire’s free hand wandered in the air for a while before finally grasping Erich’s collar.

“Ha…”

A short breath escaped between the soft lips. Her lips turned red from the heat.

Erich ran over her back and supported her waist.

“I was in the middle of getting angry.”

“Get angrier.”

“Wait, is that what you’re going to say after making me angry?”

“Because you are the hottest when you are angry.”

It was not wrong. The lips and the roof of her mouth were hot. It wasn’t clear if it was out of anger or for some other reason.

Claire caught her breath and pulled his hair painfully. The glowing eyes looked down at her as if there were blue jewels thrown into fire.

“Seriously, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“I asked Pavel to get that dress for me that morning. Because I tore your clothes.”

“When?”

“When I woke up.”

“No, not that story. Haa.”

Again he pressed her lips down. The feeling remained on her cheeks and around her eyes, and she kept thinking about it. Is this man doing this on purpose?

“If I ask me where he got it, he will know. Is it strange that it’s the same boutique as Iris’?”

“Of course, mmh.”

“I told him to get it from a good place, so he must have bought it from the best one around.”

After barely succeeding in covering Erich’s lips with her palm, Claire narrowed her eyes and looked up at him.

“Then when on earth did you wake up? Didn’t you open your eyes and wake me up?”

She knew very well that Erich woke up first that day. Because he woke her up. She thought, of course, that as soon as he woke up, he would wake her up.

If he sent someone to the dressing room that morning to get her clothes, then he would have woken up at least before that.

“No, then you woke up at least an hour earlier…!”

Claire shut her mouth as if she had stepped on a landmine while she was talking. Erich smiled.

“Why? Do you think your sleeping face was funny?”

“It’s not like that.”

Claire’s face turned red. Erich smiled lightly, cupping her cheek when her resistance had disappeared.