Blair, avoiding his gaze, smoothed her clothes and pleaded with him.
“Headrin, let us go to the bedroom. Anyone could walk into this room.”
“If we do, we might end up doing it in the hallway. Is that acceptable to you?”
As if to justify his words, Headrin pulled her closer. Through their pressed clothing, she could feel his body, which had risen to a fever pitch.
“I do not think I can hold back even for that short while.”
Blair’s lips parted in shock. Seeing his eyes—eyes that looked as though they might devour her at any moment—she realized it wasn’t just talk. He meant it.
Headrin smirked at Blair, who was now too stunned to insist on the bedroom, and immediately pressed his lips against hers again. He slipped his hand into the clothing Blair had been trying to adjust, gripping her as if kneading soft dough, and whispered.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
*I am doing as I please, regardless of your consent.*
*Just as you said, I am simply desiring you like any other man would.*
When Headrin lowered his head and bit her, Blair’s waist arched backward.
Headrin, who had been relentlessly teasing her with his soft lips, gripped Blair’s ankles. His hand, having traced up from ankles thinner than his own forearms, slipped inside her skirt.
“Headrin…!”
Blair tried to draw her legs together, but Headrin blocked her, leaving her unable to budge.
Blair bit her lip hard to keep from crying out. The sight of the office door just ahead was terrifying, yet that very fear only added to the dizzying pleasure.
Now lying half-sprawled across the desk, Blair stared blankly at the window above.
The cloudless winter sky sparkled brilliantly. Her violet eyes, reflecting the scenery, blinked slowly.
It felt as though nothing mattered anymore.
*If this is what he wants.*
At that moment, a large shadow loomed over her, casting a heavy weight upon her body. Unable to endure the overwhelming sensation, Blair bit down on the back of her own hand.
But Headrin caught both of her hands with one of his own, pinning them down.
Blair looked up at him with resentful eyes, biting her lip hard to silence herself. Seeing this, Headrin’s brow furrowed.
*Stubborn woman, as always.*
Though he found her futile resistance both laughable and annoying, he didn’t dislike it. No—it was rather cute, because it was so quintessentially her.
Headrin leaned down toward Blair, who was grit-toothed and holding back cries, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. He sucked lightly on her lips, released them, and whispered.
“Don’t bite your lips.”
Blair, having held her breath for a long time, eventually surrendered. Headrin, finding this highly satisfying, kissed her flushed cheeks and earlobes repeatedly.
“Headrin…”
Blair called his name, clinging to him.
It felt intoxicating to hear that breathless voice—so thin it sounded as if it might snap—calling his name in confusion. It felt good to feel her body clutching him desperately, refusing to let go.
To the point where he felt pathetic for having suppressed his desires until now.
A moment later, the office, which had been filled with a cacophony of sounds, fell into an instant silence.
In the quiet that finally descended, their ragged breathing echoed. Blair’s body, trapped in his arms, trembled violently.
Headrin kissed the area around her cheek, savoring the lingering heat, and only rose after her trembling had ceased.
Blair entered his line of sight, her eyes wet as she tried to steady her gasping breath.
A temptress, disheveled upon his desk.
And yet, the obscene sight was breathlessly beautiful.
Suddenly, he remembered what Johann had said yesterday.
*‘Well, honestly, she is pretty. With that face and that body, what man wouldn’t fall for her?’*
Seeing how every man acted around this woman like a fool who had lost his wits, his own desire for her probably wasn’t such a unique emotion after all.
He was simply drawn to beauty by instinct.
Yes, because she was, quite honestly, pretty.
Pretty enough that any man would want to hold her hand or speak a word to her.
Such a woman had become his contract wife. And not content with that, she had even offered up her own body. If he wanted it.
*Perhaps, was this also because of that man she loved?*
For a split second, he felt pity for that fool, but he soon erased the thought.
*But is there any need to know the reason?*
Regardless, this woman was in front of him now. She was his wife, if only in name.
The idiot who lost his woman due to social status would lose his first night with her as well, and would never be able to see her as he pleased.
A woman who had to act as a wife to a man she didn’t love for the sake of her future with the man she did.
A man who had to watch the woman he loved be held by another because of his rank.
And a man who was used for their love in exchange for something else.
Who was the most pathetic?
Objectively, he wasn’t the pathetic one.
But since humans are, in the end, self-centered animals, it left a bad taste in his mouth. Even after possessing the woman he wanted, he felt the most pathetic of them all.
He was not accustomed to sharing what he had once gotten his hands on. He probably never would be. He had been born and raised that way.
Headrin lifted Blair from the desk. Because of the aftermath, she couldn’t even stand properly and staggered.
He turned her collapsing body to press her back against the desk.
“…Headrin?”
Blair, realizing something was wrong, tried to escape his arms, but Headrin pulled her in even tighter.
“Ah…!”
The feel of Blair’s body, trembling as she was trapped in his embrace, gave him a strange sense of fulfillment. Holding her, so precarious she looked as if she might collapse at any moment, he kissed her exposed, snow-white back.
This was a contract.
A taking of what each wanted until the agreement ended.
He didn’t know what Blair wanted, but she would surely take it from him, so he would simply take whatever he wanted from her to his heart’s content.
So, this was, without a doubt, a decent deal.
* * *
There is a massive greenhouse in the Imperial Palace.
It was a greenhouse built for Empress Katrina, whom the late Emperor loved dearly.
Not only the greenhouse, but the current Empress’s Palace, built to replace the one that had burned down where Esmeralda once resided, was nothing short of a gift prepared by the late Emperor for Katrina.
Katrina loved everything about this palace, just as she did her children.
Because all of it was proof that she had been loved by the man who ruled this vast Empire.
The morning welcomed in this greenhouse, where exotic flowering trees from foreign lands grew and pretty birds chirped, was one of the things she loved for that same reason.
Katrina stirred her black tea with a teaspoon as she listened to the birds. Her demeanor was so elegant that no one would dare imagine she was of commoner origin.
She set down the teaspoon and lifted the teacup. Over her expressionless face reflected in the tea, the voice she had heard a few days ago suddenly came to mind.
*‘Are you afraid of me, Your Highness?’*
*‘…….’*
*‘Isn’t it precisely because you are afraid I might find out the truth that you are brainwashing me?’*
Katrina, who had been about to drink, paused. Her lips curled upward as she recalled the voice and its owner.
“…My, how insolent.”
Lost in thought for a moment, Katrina set the cup back down without even touching it to her lips.
Countess Magrid, who had been waiting behind her, keenly sensed the meaning and approached her side.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I must plant someone in the Del Marc Duchy. I am curious how that child, Blair, is faring. I am concerned, as well.”
Katrina’s soft voice was as gentle as a mother truly worried about her daughter.
* * *
Headrin opened his eyes at the sound of Blair’s dry cough. He felt as refreshed as one does the day after a full day of training.
His last memory was of the gray light of dawn, but judging by the light seeping through the window, it was quite late.
Suddenly sensing a presence, he turned his head and saw Blair sleeping beside him.
Yesterday, during the day, he had tangled with Blair in the office several times before succumbing to her pleas and coming to the bedroom.
After that, he had possessed her like a beast. They had even eaten their meals in bed. After feeding her, when she didn’t have the strength to lift a finger, he would consume her in turn.
Once his leashed desires were finally let go, they erupted beyond his ability to restrain them. Like drinking seawater, the more he consumed, the thirstier he became.
Blair, worn out, had cajoled, pleaded, and even wept, but that only stimulated him further.
Remembering her teary appearance, his body reacted as if it still hadn’t had enough, even after satisfying his desires all night long.
*…Crazy bastard.*
Headrin mocked himself and rose, suppressing the heat rising in his lower abdomen.
Clothes were scattered haphazardly on the floor; as it was Blair’s room, there were no clothes of his own to wear.
Headrin, who had been about to reflexively pull the bell cord, lowered his hand. For some reason, he didn’t want to break this serene peace.
He pulled on his trousers and shirt and walked over to the fireplace to light a fire. He stared blankly at the burning logs, then habitually took a cigar from his back pocket and lit it.
Headrin’s hand, moving the lit cigar to his mouth, stopped. At the same time, he sighed, his brow furrowing.
Before he could even take a single puff, the cigar was tossed into the fireplace.