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“I didn’t hear a thing.”

Balron leaned back in his chair, swaying slightly while casting a sideways glance at the squad members squabbling around him.

Mikel from Yanes’ squad was at the center, leading the conversation, and members were gathering around him in small clusters.

“Did you just not hear it?”

Sanders tilted his head and asked.

“It’s not just me! No one heard it! Vivian was rampaging so much that the entire castle went silent. If there was a noise, of course I would hear it! I could even hear a damn ant crawling!”

Mikel waved his hands in strong denial.

“Hmm… really? That’s strange.”

Sanders put on a contemplative expression.

Mikel shook his head firmly in response to the following question.

“All of your guesses are wrong. Stop talking nonsense about how Vivian went on a rampage because she likes Kyle. Does that make any sense? Vivian is like that? She’s always composed, and now she’s acting like that because she likes Kyle? There must be some political reason that we can’t fathom!”

He was adamant.

“The noble and elegant Vivian likes Kyle? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I mean, Kyle’s a decent guy, but come on… That’s Vivian we’re talking about. The lord of Roktana, the genius who lifted the crumbling Rondore family. And that beauty? It’s like a miracle descended from the heavens. There’s no way someone like Vivian could get hung up on Kyle!”

Mikel believed that someone as beautiful as Vivian would never obsess over just one man. Especially when that man was Kyle, who was always hanging around them.

Listening to his story, Sanders tilted his head and responded.

“…What makes you so sure after just seeing her for a few days? Maybe she’s just shy and hesitating?”

Mikel scoffed at that.

“Shy? The noble and icy lady? If she was shy, she’d have already taken charge and settled it. And if she had any shyness, she wouldn’t have imprisoned Kyle!”

“So, what are you trying to say? Why did she imprison Kyle?”

When Sanders pressed, Mikel looked frustrated.

“Well, you see, Kyle is a prisoner. She’s probably just angry that he’s trying to leave without following proper procedures. I understand where Kyle’s coming from, but rules are rules!”

“…If she was angry, she could’ve just thrown him in the dungeon. Why did she have to lock him in Vivian’s room?”

“…She must have some friendship there, so she wanted to treat him well to some extent.”

Sanders clicked his tongue, as if he didn’t need to hear any more of Mikel’s excuses.

“You’ve just been making excuses for her all along. Dude, Vivian outright kissed Kyle in front of everyone! Not too long ago, she even showed up at our lodgings with a drink! Are you really ignoring all that?”

At that, even Mikel started to clutch his head in distress.

“No, no, no!! My Vivian can’t just obsess over someone like Kyle!! There’s no way that goddess would do something like that for him!!”

He shook his head vigorously as if he couldn’t accept it.

Balron simply leaned back in his chair and silently observed the commotion.

“Hey, Balron!”

Mikel then turned his fiery gaze to Balron.

“You speak up! You’re one of Kyle’s closest buddies!”

Balron replied disinterestedly.

“What’s up?”

“What’s real? Is Vivian really acting irrationally because of Kyle? Does she like that guy? That Vivian?”

Balron set his feet down on the table and straightened his chair.

Then he asked in a low voice.

“…What does it matter?”

“Damn it, I’m asking because it makes my stomach churn. I mean, is Vivian really that crazy over him? Jealous of that bastard—”

“—Jealous?”

Balron clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Everyone threw their eyes at him, irritated by his tone.

Originally, Balron had no intention of joining the fight, but he had been bogged down with thoughts about Kyle lately.

He knew exactly who Kyle couldn’t kill and why he couldn’t return home.

“…Hey, you’ve got a few scars on your body. Ever counted the scars on Kyle’s?”

Mikel looked startled.

“W-What? Why are you getting all serious all of a sudden—”

“Don’t you know those are all scars from trying to protect Vivian? Did you not see the burn on his back? He broke his leg saving Vivian, and you forgot that?”

“…Balron, that’s not—”

“There’s countless others. I bet what we see is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless memories he accumulated that we don’t know about. They’re both standing on a side we can hardly understand. I believe something is up with Vivian liking Kyle that made her act like this. But…”

Balron stood up and spat on the floor.

Even so, the guilt he felt towards Kyle never left him.

“…But don’t be envious. If you aren’t confident you can endure the same trials as Kyle. I’ve been watching, and that guy is pitiful. Don’t you feel sorry for him? You forget he’s a noble back home, someone we couldn’t even look in the eye. That guy can’t even smell home anymore and is stuck in this situation—what’s there to be envious of?”

“…”

“You bastards. And do you want to joke about that? Don’t you feel sorry for Kyle?”

Mikel scratched his head.

“I-I just… I want to throw out a joke to lighten the mood, and suddenly it got serious?”

“…”

Balron stepped out of the lodge, leaving behind the awkward silence.

He switched his attention to patrolling the castle and saw Willas and Martin ahead of him.

“…Where’s Kyle?”

Balron asked.

Martin clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“…Still trapped, I guess.”

Willas sighed and scratched his head.

“What are we going to do? No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with an answer.”

Balron fell silent, deep in thought, his head hung low.

Willas continued shaking his head.

“To be honest, Kyle could’ve left. But he chose to stay and save all of us. No, it’s not even that… He probably put on the collar himself for us.”

Balron took a deep breath.

The castle was bustling in preparation for Vivian’s 19th birthday, the day she would become an adult.

The dirt paths were filled with maids scurrying around, raising dust as they did the chores, while the echoes of servants moving briskly rang through the castle’s marble corridors.

The entire castle was busy preparing to welcome various guests.

Yet amidst the hustle and bustle, everyone was quietly cautious, timidly glancing towards Vivian.

To Balron, everything was a blur.

He sealed his lips, lost in thought, then finally whispered softly.

“…I guess I should try something.”

Even though he thought he wouldn’t feel disturbed for ignoring Kyle’s demands since their conversation had already ended… the aftermath left an unpleasant taste that he couldn’t shake off.

****

With a delicate sound like rustling, Vivian appeared from behind the thin curtain.

Her curves peeked through her translucent clothing.

The short nightgown only covered the lower part of her underwear, exposing her legs clearly, while the flickering candlelight softly illuminated them.

Vivian approached me, wrapping her wet hair with a towel.

That ordinary and natural motion made it feel as if we were long-time lovers or a married couple.

If it weren’t for the strange handcuffs binding my wrists, the sensation would have been even more vivid.

It was already the fourth day since I had been imprisoned.

Her wet hair curled softly down her shoulders.

From the touch of her drying hair, a unique fragrant smell gently wafted towards me.

“Isn’t it amazing, Kyle?”

Vivian suddenly spoke up.

Granting me a moment of beauty that she would never show to others, a beauty that felt almost forbidden, she asked.

“Though we’re just now preparing, all the adults must have been like this back in the day.”

“…”

“Everyone pretends to be kind, noble, and innocent, but… in the end, they’ve all likely experienced the vulgarity of intertwining their bodies.”

I understood what she was trying to convey.

Indeed, since we had grown up together, there were differences we felt as we developed.

The adults around us had been hostile towards us. I found it hard to imagine that they acted similarly behind closed doors.

“And then they faced everyone the next day with a straight face, isn’t it funny to think from a child’s perspective?”

She chuckled lightly while organizing the paperwork she had on her desk.

Each and every one of her motions was mesmerizing to me.

Once she finished organizing, she approached me demurely.

Stopping just in front of the bed, she looked at me.

I gazed back at Vivian.

The bed surrounding me, the covers, Vivian standing at my feet, the dark desk and bookshelf behind her, and the warm candlelight gently enveloping her body.

In that light, Vivian quietly smiled at me, biting her lip slightly.

“…I’m so glad you’re here like this.”

Her voice sank low.

“I feel like you really belong to me now.”

She carefully raised herself from her knees on the bed, slowly approaching me.

Like a lioness, she came towards me gracefully.

Each movement accentuated her feminine silhouette.

The sound of her dress brushing over the bed echoed softly.

Finally reaching me, she pressed her hands against my thighs and kept climbing over me like a cat.

Each touch felt like it sparked a fire.

Warm sensations surged from her fingertips.

Her expression and movements were clouding my rational mind.

My heart was pounding like crazy, possibly due to the curse.

No man could remain unaffected when the woman he loved desperately behaved like this.

I felt nothing but humiliation. My mind screamed that I should hate her, but my body refused to comply.

“…Did you only learn this from Lady Linne?”

I barely managed to tease her.

“…Hmm?”

Vivian tilted her head slightly, chuckling lightly.

I found myself lashing out at her to stay steady.

“You always act tough, but it seems you learned nothing but how to cling to a man like a whore?”

She laughed at my provocation.

“Well, what a relief. I can see your reaction now.”

Her hands glided purely and without hesitation between my legs.

The moment her hand touched my most sensitive parts, I involuntarily recoiled.

“Hmph…!”

Vivian burst into laughter seeing my face.

In response to the explicit caress I had never felt before, I gritted my teeth and spoke.

“What’s with touching me so… shamelessly?”

“Why should there be any hesitation when I want to touch my own?”

But Vivian’s face as she spoke those words was already different from usual.

Her cheeks were flushed, and her ears were the same.

The breath she exhaled was hot and rough, unlike her usual demeanor.

It was evident that some degree of smoke was swirling around.

However, it felt genuine that she claimed me as her own.

That was hard to deny.

She pressed herself against me.

I was bound, unable to do anything.

She leaned her upper body against me, wrapping her arms around my neck as she had done at the drinking party.

With just a slight tilt of her head, we were close enough to touch each other’s faces.

The only difference from the drinking party was how tightly she was pressed against me.

There was no space between us.

She completely erased the distance between us.

A chilling sensation enveloped me.

“…I love that your body is always warm. Is that because you’re from the North?”

It was the day she behaved most explicitly since I had been imprisoned for days.

“…Hah.”

She leaned into me, fulfilling her desires.

Then she descended from me, as if intending to resume her previous actions, and placed her hand there again.

“…Stop it.”

I whispered again as I felt the sensation return.

“Why?”

She asked curiously, as if she didn’t understand.

“You really don’t know why I’m asking?”

-Swish, swish.

Vivian waved her hands up and down, as if she couldn’t hear me.

At that moment, I felt as if nothing I said mattered to her.

Vivian observed my annoyed face closely, then lightly laughed and pressed her lips to my ear.

Whether she learned it from Lady Linne or not, she planted a gentle kiss on my ear before whispering next.

“…Shall I suck it?”

I clenched my fists tightly.

Vivian smiled softly and continued her whisper.

“…If you give up and let me have you, I’ll do it until tomorrow morning. It’s a chance to dirty this beautiful face that everyone praises. You’d want to scold me for behaving like this, right?”

It was the devil’s whisper.

“…Don’t you want to see me struggling to hold onto something so hard?”

I shut my eyes tightly, then opened them to look at her.

“…Please stop.”

With my base desires swirling beneath, I longed for something so much it felt painful.

However, my brief words, devoid of these feelings, abruptly froze the air in the room.

Vivian’s expression gradually hardened, and her hand hesitated to move.

It felt like my serious request had somehow hurt her.

“…Is this really something you’d beg for?”

She whispered.

Then looking somewhat deflated, she withdrew her hand.

Vivian got off the bed.

And without a moment’s hesitation, she adjusted the chains, allowing me a bit of freedom to lie on the bed.

“…Let’s stop here for today.”

She said.

“Lie down, Kyle. It’s time to sleep.”

“…”

I didn’t lie down.

For some reason, following her orders felt like losing.

To protect the pride already shattered by my body reacting against my will, I remained there, stiff against the upper bed.

Vivian glanced at me, and without saying anything more, she fell silent.

“Hah—.”

Her sigh extinguished the candle.

The room was enveloped in darkness, and she quietly climbed onto the bed.

She no longer made any effort to make me lie down, resting her head on my thigh instead.

Her expression, hidden in shadows, was no longer visible.

“…Kyle, could you not give me a head pat just once?”

Her voice was low and quiet.

Instead of the usual sharpness she always carried, it held a fleeting vulnerability.

Now covered in darkness, she felt less like a tyrant wanting to possess me and more like a weak girl who wanted to be protected and loved.

“…But how can I do that when my hands are tied?”

I replied in a dry voice.

Vivian chuckled softly, a smile laced with bitterness.

“…You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, I asked.

“…How long are you going to keep me locked up?”

Vivian was firm.

“Until you submit.”

Then, as if deciding there was no reason to continue talking, she switched topics and bid me farewell.

“Goodnight, Kyle. Dream of me. I…”

Softly contemplating, she said, “…I need to dream of you smiling.”

Her last words slipped away like a gentle breath.

I found myself quaking, hidden in the darkness by that delicate phrasing.

…I surely couldn’t remember the last time I truly smiled at her.

Gradually, Vivian’s body relaxed in comfort.

The silence in the room enveloped us again.

It felt like the tedious days we fought in the past were returning, and it was exhausting.

Yet alongside that tiring feeling… a familiar sense of solidarity in sharing even these difficult moments seeped into my heart.

 

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